Secretary of State Clinton travels to sub-Saharan Africa

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is embarking on a weeklong trip to sub-Saharan Africa, CNN reports.

Clinton will meet with survivors of gender-based violence in Tanzania and will visit a hospital in Ethiopia for women afflicted with fistula. "She also will see initiatives designed to improve Africans' lives, such as programs providing mothers and children with nutritional food for the critical 1,000-day period from the start of a woman's pregnancy until her child's second birthday" (Dougherty, 6/10). According to a press statement from the State Department, "Clinton will then travel to Lusaka, Zambia, on June 10 for the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Ministerial Forum, where she will showcase this centerpiece of our trade policy with Africa and engage with government, private sector, and civil society representatives from 37 different countries" (5/31).

In related news, Reuters reports that "Clinton has been in discussions with the White House about leaving her job next year to become head of the World Bank, sources familiar with the discussions said on Thursday" (Wroughton, 6/9).