Clinton wins over Africa with visit

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — In Liberia, Hillary Clinton brought out the crowds despite torrential rain. In Congo, she came away deeply shaken from a meeting with rape victims. Kenya’s prime minister said Africa didn’t need lectures from the West about democracy, but Africa got one anyway.

At home, the U.S. secretary of state’s visit may have been overshadowed by the aftermath of her husband’s mission to North Korea to bring home two imprisoned U.S. journalists. But on her seven- nation Africa tour, ending today with a stopover in the West African island republic of Cape Verde, she made one splash after another.

Coupled with Barack Obama’s visit last month, the two trips to Africa were the earliest into an administration by any secretary of state or president, underlining Washington’s pledges to pay more attention to the continent.

In the U.S., the headline-making moment of the trip was her testy response to a question about Bill Clinton. But in Africa, it quickly became a footnote. What people wanted to hear was support for democracy, clean government and ending its many civil wars.

Clinton’s ambitious itinerary resembled those of China’s foreign minister, who makes extensive annual tours of his country’s allies on the continent. But where China tends to sidestep the issues of corruption and democracy, Clinton confronted them head-on.

Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, speaking hours before Clinton arrived, said Africa did not need to be lectured about democracy. After they met, she did just that. “The absence of strong and effective democratic institutions has permitted ongoing corruption, impunity, politically motivated violence and a lack of respect for a rule of law,” Clinton said. “These conditions ... are continuing to hold Kenya back.”

Odinga switched to a more conciliatory tone, saying African countries could learn from Clinton’s example when she conceded defeat to Obama during the U.S. presidential primaries.

“That is a lesson Africa needs to learn seriously,” he said. “In Africa, in many countries, elections are never won, they are only rigged. The losers never accept that they lost. If we do this, we will be able to develop democracy truly in the African continent.”

In Angola, she told Foreign Minister Assuncao Afonso dos Anjos that his country needed to write a new constitution, prosecute human- rights crimes and have a proper presidential election.

“So, Mr. Minister, we have our work cut out for us,” she said.