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When the emergency arose in Zaïre two weeks ago, two countries responded almost immediately to Mobutu's call for aid: Belgium, which has a $1 billion investment in Zaïre and 100,000 of its citizens in residence there; and France, which thinks of itself as a mentor to French-speaking Africa. Carter immediately asked Paris and Brussels how the U.S. could help; at their suggestion, he quickly supplied 18 Air Force C-141 transports to assist in the emergency airlift. Considering the magnitude of French and Belgian assistance, it is doubtful that Carter would have wanted to take a more active role in the operation. But he has been increasingly concerned about the limitations Congress has placed on the President's freedom to conduct foreign policy as he chooses.
Among these laws is the Clark amendment, a post-Viet Nam measure that prevents the President from sending military aid to Angola. On May 1, CIA Director Admiral Stansfield Turner and David Aaron, Brzezinski's deputy at the National Security Agency, visited Senator
Dick Clark, the Iowa Democrat who had introduced the measure in 1976. They asked his advice on a plan by which the U.S. could channel aid to one of the anti-Neto guerrilla factions in Angola—presumably to pressure the Luanda government to put a tighter rein on both its Cuban and Katangese guests. After some thought, Clark concluded that the scheme would violate the law and that he would oppose it.
Carter emphasized last week that he has "no intention" of getting involved militarily in Africa and that he will not ask Congress to repeal the Clark amendment. But because of the "very tight constraints" on his conduct of foreign policy, he has ordered the State Department to make a study of the statutes that restrict his power. He has not decided on a plan of action, but he obviously wants greater flexibility to provide economic and military aid when he thinks the need is there.
One Administration official is convinced that the Clark amendment, which prohibited the Ford Administration from aiding antigovernment forces in Angola, was a factor in emboldening the Soviets to step up their activity in Africa. Another, this official believes, was the U.S.Soviet joint statement on the Middle East last October, which was followed shortly by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat's historic trip to Jerusalem. After heated objections from Israel, the Administration backed away from the joint statement. The Soviets felt betrayed and outflanked by the U.S. in the Middle East, according to this view, and turned their attentions toward black Africa.
In dealing with African nations, the Communist powers have certain advantages over the European countries and even the U.S. For one thing, they are untarnished by the history of African colonialism. The irony is that in the postwar era, while Western Europe, with U.S. prodding, was carrying out one of the greatest dismantlings of colonial power in history, the Russians were busy creating an empire of their own in Eastern Europe. Nonetheless, the Russians are free to identify themselves unambiguously with the African liberation movements, something the U.S. has rarely been able to do because of its close relations with the former colonial rulers.