Aug 13 2009
At a town hall meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, on Wednesday, the fifth stop of her seven-nation African tour, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged Nigeria to fix its "flawed electoral system," and "pledg[ed] U.S. assistance in efforts to bring peace to the volatile and oil-rich Delta region," the Wall Street Journal reports.
Clinton said Nigeria has the potential to become a member of the G20, "but -- a big but -- the corruption reputation ... it is a problem," according to the newspaper. She announced plans for the U.S. and Nigeria to enter into a binational commission, which would aim to address some of Nigeria's domestic problems, including electoral reforms (Connors, 8/13).
Clinton said the commission will work at federal and state levels to further develop "what she says is an already strong relationship," according to VOA News. The U.S. "views Nigeria as a friend, an ally, and a partner on so many important issues, as well as an important country in Africa and increasingly globally," Clinton said (Stearns, 8/12).
On Thursday, Clinton is going to Liberia "in a show of support for Africa's only female leader, who has faced calls to step down over actions during brutal civil wars," the Agence France-Presse reports. Johnnie Carson, the assistant secretary of state for African affairs, said Clinton "wants to reaffirm U.S. support" for President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (Tandon, 8/13).
Clinton Must Continue To Highlight Rape Problem In Congo, Editorial Says
During her trip to Africa, "Clinton used her formidable voice to protest sexual violence during a visit to eastern Congo, where an estimated 200,000 people have been abused in war in the last decade," the Los Angeles Times writes in an editorial about rape worldwide. Clinton's $17 million pledge for victims of sexual violence in Congo is "welcome aid for a horrific problem," according to the editorial. Though she offered U.S. military resources "to advise on stopping further sexual assaults ... far more is needed on this front," the newspaper writes. The Los Angeles Times concludes: "The Congolese military must hold officers accountable for overseeing or turning a blind eye to rape. And Clinton must continue to highlight the issue until reality begins to catch up with international law" (8/13).
 This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.
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