The US Secretary of State rounded up her 11-day tour in Benin on Friday August 10.
Hillary Clinton's trip to Sub-Saharan Africa took her to nine countries where she celebrated successes and addressed ongoing challenges like security, economic cooperation and promoting women and eradicating HIV/AIDS. Clinton reaffirmed American support in these areas at each stop.
Clinton argued for greater trade among African countries and with the United States that she said would create jobs and economic growth on all sides. She called on African countries to take their place on the world stage and to be less wary of intervention when it comes to protecting democratic values and human rights, the Voice of America, VOA said.
The American diplomat admitted that international challenges like economic crisis, trans-national crime and terrorism, climate change, disease, famine and nuclear proliferation could not be solved by any one country acting alone. Each problem, she pointed out, calls for a global network of partners and African solutions too.
According to the Associated Press, AP news agency, Clinton's long trip - her second to Africa – will be remembered for including a visit to Uganda amid a deadly Ebola outbreak, the swarm of bees that almost stung her in Malawi and arriving South Africa on the same day snow fell in the capital, Pretoria, for the first time since 1968. Clinton also met 94-year-old former South African leader, Nelson Mandela at his home in Qunu. While in Malawi on the first trip ever by a US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton danced on camera with rural women after donating a bull to an agricultural collective.
Clinton ended her tour in Benin on Friday August 10 after attending the funeral of Ghanaian President, John Evans Atta Mills earlier in the day in the capital, Accra. The trip also took her to Senegal, Uganda, South Sudan, Kenya, Malawi, South Africa and Nigeria.
Analysts said Clinton's trip reflected Africa's growing strategic importance to the United States, not only with regards to security and counter-terrorism, but also energy. Africa, in particular the Gulf of Guinea region, is rivaling the Persian Gulf as a source of oil imports.
