SOUTH AFRICA: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meets with South Africa's foreign minister where she will push the country to use its influence with neighbour Zimbabwe and seek closer ties with Pretoria

Record ID: 454477

  • Title: SOUTH AFRICA: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meets with South Africa's foreign minister where she will push the country to use its influence with neighbour Zimbabwe and seek closer ties with Pretoria
  • Date: 8th August 2009
  • Summary: PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA (AUGUST 7, 2009) (REUTERS) SOUTH AFRICA'S INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS MINISTER MAITE NKOANA-MASHABANE WAITING FOR U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE HILLARY CLINTON / CLINTON GETTING OUT OF CAR AND SHAKING HANDS WITH MASHABANE/ CLINTON AND MASHABANE WALKING AND POSING FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS U.S. DELEGATION ARRIVING AND GREETING MASHABANE MEMBERS OF MEDIA OUTSIDE CAMERAS INSIDE CLINTON AND MASHABANE ARRIVING AT BILATERAL MEETING AND SITTING DOWN MASHABANE/ CLINTON MEETING CLINTON
  • Embargoed: 23rd August 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: South Africa
  • Country: South Africa
  • Reuters ID: LVA205ZH2K42ZNPHXWQXU1P544JZ
  • Story Text: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is on a seven-nation tour of Africa, met with South Africa's International Relations Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane on Friday (August 7) where she will push the country to use its influence with neighbour Zimbabwe and seek closer ties with Pretoria after strained relations with the Bush administration.
    Clinton, who is also set to meet South Africa's vice president, said she would urge the new government to get Zimbabwe to raise the pace of political reform which has been too slow for donors to release substantial amounts of aid.
    She said South Africa must "try to use its influence to mitigate against the negative effects of the continuing presidency of President (Robert) Mugabe."
    New South African President Jacob Zuma, due to meet Clinton in the coastal city of Durban on Saturday (August 8), has taken a harder line on Zimbabwe than his predecessor Thabo Mbeki, but the United States wants more.
    The United States, troubled by what it sees as an absence of reform in Zimbabwe, has no plans either to offer major aid or to lift sanctions against Mugabe and some of his supporters.
    Clinton hopes there will be a burst of goodwill due to the change of government in both South Africa and the United States and that she will be able to kick off better relations with Pretoria than the previous George W. Bush administration had.
    While in Nairobi -- the first stop of Clinton's African tour before she came to South Africa -- the top U.S. diplomat publicly lambasted Kenya's government for corruption and poor governance.
    U.S. officials said Clinton would not beat the same drum with Pretoria and the focus would be on boosting economic and diplomatic ties.
    Clinton visited South Africa several times when her husband, Bill Clinton, was U.S. President and she plans to visit Cape Town on Saturday to check in on progress at a housing project named after slain anti-apartheid activist Victoria Mxenge, which she went to see on two previous trips.
    On Friday she will also meet international icon and former South African President Nelson Mandela.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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