A decision on whether the apparently ill terrorist should be released or transferred is expected soon. The Libyan was given a life sentence for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.

Should the only person to be held legally responsible for the 1988 terrorist attack on Pan Am Flight 103 and the deaths of 270 people be allowed to die in his native Libya?

This is the question before Scotland's justice secretary, Kenny MacAskill, who is considering the release or transfer of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi from a Scottish prison. The prospect of a move has dismayed many victims' families – in particular, relatives of the 189 Americans who died when a bomb placed in the flight's cargo hold exploded above Lockerbie, Scotland.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has talked to Mr. MacAskill and "expressed strongly" the US view that Mr. Megrahi should not be released, according to Philip Crowley, State Department spokesman. "We have made our views clear not only to Scotland, not only to the UK, but also to Libya," Mr. Crowley said at a briefing last week. "We had a fair trial. He was convicted. He's serving his time, and we think he should stay in jail."

Attorney General Eric Holder has also contacted MacAskill, as have seven US senators, including Sens. Edward Kennedy (D) and John Kerry (D), both of Massachusetts.

"We know that the Scottish government shares our commitment – and the world's – to support justice and oppose acts of terrorism," the seven senators wrote in a letter to MacAskill. "That is why we urge you to ensure that Abdel Basset al-Megrahi serves the remainder of his sentence in prison in Scotland."

Megrahi was convicted in 2001 and was sentenced to life in prison (with a minimum of 27 years before being considered for parole). According to his lawyer, Megrahi has terminal prostate cancer in a late stage. It falls on MacAskill to decide whether to grant him a "compassionate" release, given his health condition, or allow him to serve the remainder of his sentence in his native Libya, under the terms of a Prisoner Transfer Treaty, which was signed between Libya and the UK last November. That second option may be complicated by an outstanding Crown appeal against the length of the original sentence. Still, a decision on a release or transfer is expected before the end of August and could arrive much sooner.

Many of the victims' families in America worry that the urging from US officials comes too late.

"It's the 11th hour," says Rosemary Wolfe, who lost her stepdaughter, Miriam, in the attack. Miriam was a drama student at Syracuse University in New York.

Mrs. Wolfe worries that the US didn't act sooner because it didn't want to appear to interfere with Scottish authority. "The US has a lot of power and persuasive abilities. If ever it should have been used, it's now," she says.

But while US families and authorities appear united against Megrahi's release or transfer, some others feel differently. A handful of British families have spoken out against Megrahi's continued imprisonment.

Jim Swire's daughter, Flora, was killed aboard Flight 103. Dr. Swire has long had doubts about Megrahi's involvement in the bombing and has pushed for an independent inquiry to examine the events surrounding the night of the bombing.

"It's a very unfortunate position for me to be in, to be making life even harder for those relatives in the United States," Swire has said. "But I am determined to get to the truth."

For Wolfe and Frank Duggan, president of the Victims of Pan Am Flight 103, there's no doubt of Megrahi's guilt. Their greatest fear is that Megrahi will be celebrated if he returns to Libya.

"If he goes home to Libya, we know he will be treated to a hero's welcome," Mr. Duggan says, pointing to Megrahi's co-defendant, who was acquitted of charges and whose return to Libya was regarded as a victory by the state-sponsored media. "The fact that this man is jail in is a very small measure of justice."

By Tracey D. Samuelson, The Christian Science Monitor, August 19, 2009

"We're trying to work hard to create conditions for negotiation to continue and we hope to have this phase of this process completed in the next few weeks," spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters after an hour-long meeting between Mubarak and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at a Washington hotel.

Crowley said Egypt and the United States agreed that all sides - Israel, the Palestinians and Arab states - need to take "parallel steps" to set the stage for a return to negotiations. Those include a halt to settlement activity by Israel, Palestinian moves to improve security and gestures by Arab nations toward normalization of relations with Israel.

"I think Egypt and the United States share the view that we have to have parallel steps here," he said.

Only Egypt and Jordan have peace treaties with Israel. Arab states without relations with Israel have rebuffed U.S. appeals to take certain steps toward normalizing ties until Israel makes the first move.

Obama will meet with Mubarak at the White House on Tuesday.

The Associated Press, August 17, 2009

Empowering women is critical to global progress and prosperity. This was U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's message to the women of Africa.

"This is not just a moral imperative," she said, "it is an economic one as well. When women are accorded their rights and afforded equal opportunities in education, health care and gainful employment, they drive social and economic progress. When they are marginalized and mistreated, as is the case in too many places in Africa," said Secretary Clinton, "prosperity is impossible."

The women of South Africa have helped to make the country an economic anchor for the continent. Across the country, women are leading small and medium-sized businesses that are the foundation of economic progress. One of these entrepreneurs is Sally Marengo. She started the KPL Aluminium and Zinc Die-Casting factory, which now manufactures car parts in Befordview.

Across Africa, women are driving positive change. Kenya's Wangari Maathai has launched an international movement on behalf of environmental stewardship. Liberia's President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has taken the reins of a nation once gripped by civil war and proven that women can lead at the highest levels.

But in many parts of Africa, and indeed the world, the picture is not so encouraging. Laws deny women the right to own property, access credit or make their own choices within their marriage. Women comprise the majority of the world's poor, unfed, and unschooled. They are subjected to rape as a tactic of war, so-called honor killings, maiming, trafficking, genital mutilation, and other violent degrading practices.

"In the face of such depravity," said Secretary Clinton, "the world must speak with one clear voice: this violence must end." The United States is working to develop partnerships across Africa to ensure that the rights of women are protected and respected, and that they have the opportunity to pursue an education, find a good job, live in safety and fulfill their own potential. The United States believes in Africa's promise. It is a continent of opportunity, home to more than 800 million people -- more than half of them women -- ready to build, create, and thrive.





Voice of America, August 17, 2009

Elevating Rights Is a Focus of Secretary

She talked chickens with female farmers in Kenya. She listened to the excruciating stories of rape victims in war-torn eastern Congo. And in South Africa, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton visited a housing project built by poor women, where she danced with a choir singing "Heel-a-ree! Heel-a-ree!"

Clinton's just-concluded 11-day trip to Africa has sent the clearest signal yet that she intends to make women's rights one of her signature issues and a higher priority than ever before in American diplomacy.

She plans to press governments on abuses of women's rights and make women more central in U.S. aid programs.

But her efforts go beyond the marble halls of government and show how she is redefining the role of secretary of state. Her trips are packed with town hall meetings and visits to micro-credit projects and women's dinners. Ever the politician, she is using her star power to boost women who could be her allies.

"It's just a constant effort to elevate people who, in their societies, may not even be known by their own leaders," Clinton said in an interview. "My coming gives them a platform, which then gives us the chance to try and change the priorities of the governments."

Clinton's agenda faces numerous obstacles. The U.S. aid system is a dysfunctional jumble of programs. Some critics may question why she is focusing on women's rights instead of terrorism or nuclear proliferation. And improving the lot of women in such places as Congo is complicated by deeply rooted social problems.

"It's great she's mentioning the issue," said Brett Schaefer, an Africa scholar at the Heritage Foundation. "As to whether her bringing it up will substantially improve the situation or treatment of women in Africa, frankly I doubt it."

Lawrence Wilkerson, who was chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, said that Clinton has to tread carefully in socially conservative regions, particularly those where the U.S. military is at war. "You might be right, in the narrow sense of women in that country or region need to be empowered, but you're saying something inimical to other U.S. interests," he said.

Despite Clinton's efforts to spotlight women's issues, it was her own angry response to what she perceived as a sexist question at a town hall meeting in Congo that dominated American television coverage of her Africa trip. A student had asked for former president Bill Clinton's opinion on a local political issue -- "through the mouth of Mrs. Clinton." Snapped Hillary Clinton: "My husband is not the secretary of state. I am."

Clinton is not the first female secretary of state, but neither of her predecessors had her impact abroad as a pop feminist icon. On nearly every foreign trip, she has met with women -- South Korean students, Israeli entrepreneurs, Iraqi war widows, Chinese civic activists. Clinton mentioned "women" or "woman" at least 450 times in public comments in her first five months in the position, twice as often as her predecessor, Condoleezza Rice.

Clinton's interest in global women's issues is deeply personal, a mission she adopted as first lady after the stinging defeat of her health-care reform effort in 1994. For months, she kept a low profile. Then, in September 1995, she addressed the U.N. women's conference in Beijing, strongly denouncing abuses of women's rights. Delegates jumped to their feet in applause.

"It was a transformational moment for her," said Melanne Verveer, who has worked closely with Clinton since her White House days.

Clinton began traveling the world, highlighting women's issues. She gradually built a network of female activists, politicians and entrepreneurs, especially through a group she helped found, Vital Voices, that has trained more than 7,000 emerging leaders worldwide. She developed a following among middle-class women in male-dominated countries who devoured her autobiography and eagerly watched her presidential run.

"She might not be having the same restrictions as we have, but she has had restrictions -- and she's moving on. That's a symbol to us," said Tara Fela-Durotoye, a businesswoman in Abuja, Nigeria.

Clinton's legacy is evident in such places as the Victoria Mxenge housing development outside Cape Town, South Africa, a dusty sprawl of small, pastel-colored homes she championed as first lady. When her bus rolled into the female-run project during her trip, a joyful commotion broke out. Women in purple and yellow gowns lined the streets, waving wildly.

A youth choir swayed outside a community center decorated with photos of Clinton on her previous visits to the project, which has grown to 50,000 houses. Clinton vowed in a major policy address last month to make women the focus of U.S. assistance programs. The idea is applauded by development experts, who have found that investing in girls' education, maternal health and women's micro-finance provides a powerful boost to Third World families.

Ritu Sharma, president of the anti-poverty group Women Thrive Worldwide, said she already sees the results of Clinton's efforts in the bureaucracy. When Sharma's staff recently attended a meeting about a new agricultural aid program, she said, one State Department official joked, "We have to integrate women -- or we're going to be fired."

Still, Sharma questioned whether the program would succeed in reaching poor women, especially given the weaknesses in U.S. foreign assistance.

"There's a lot of healthy skepticism about 'Will it really happen?' " she said.

In a sign of the priority she gives to the issue, Clinton has appointed her close friend Verveer as the State Department's first global ambassador for women's affairs.

"She will permeate the State Department, as I want her to, with what we should be doing about empowering and focusing on women across the board," Clinton said.

One issue Verveer has been concerned about is violence against women, particularly the stunningly high number of rapes in eastern Congo. Last week, Clinton, Verveer and the delegation boarded U.N. planes to visit the remote, impoverished region and meet with rape victims. Clinton pressed the Congolese president to prosecute offenders and offered $17 million in new assistance for victims.

"Raising issues like the ones I've been raising on this trip to get governments to focus on them, to see they're not sidelined or subsidiary issues, but that the U.S. government at the highest levels cares about them, is important," she said. "It changes the dynamic within governments."

Clinton's efforts are being reinforced by a White House women's council and a Congress with a growing number of powerful female members. One sign of that: Aid dedicated to programs for Afghan women and girls increased about threefold this year, to $250 million, because of lawmakers such as Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), who was recently named head of the first Senate subcommittee on global women's issues, and Rep. Nita M. Lowey (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee on foreign operations.

It is striking how much time Clinton dedicates to women's events on her trips, even ones that receive little public attention. In South Africa, a clearly delighted Clinton spent 90 minutes at the housing project, twice as long as she met with South Africa's president. "It feeds my heart," she explained. "Which is really critical to me personally since a lot of what I do as secretary of state is very formalistic. It's meetings with other officials."

By Mary Beth Sheridan, The Washington Post, August 18, 2009

It seemed fitting, somehow, that one of America's most misunderstood women would be misrepresented in the world's most misunderstood region.

SANTA MARIA, Cape Verde - Think of it as Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's informational interview of Africa. Eleven days, seven countries of friendly, engaging, edifying talk - but with no urgent American interest on the line. There were no nukes to stop; no peace deal to start; no young American women to free (Bill Clinton's shadow loomed large from the moment Mrs. Clinton's plane took off).

More than anything, the African safari she finished last week was about her and her emerging style as secretary of state. She stuffed her days with what felt like a dozen events, a blur of high-level meetings, roundtable discussions and "townterviews" (more on that later). She seemed engaged throughout it all, scribbling in her notebooks like a dutiful student during meetings, keeping a straight, earnest face even when one Nigerian religious leader told her he was "constipated with ideas."

"Condi would never do this," whispered one of Mrs. Clinton's aides during yet another sweaty town hall meeting. Neither, probably, would Colin Powell. Or Madeleine Albright. Or Henry Kissinger. Or just about any other secretary of state, a job that in the past seemed to go to people who didn't like to smile much.

But Mrs. Clinton is different. She's a recovering politician, with First Lady tendencies. And a celebrity in her own right. She can't resist the rope line even when it's in a South African housing project teaming with glassy-eyed men and her security agents are practically shouting into their cufflinks. Her style is to go heavy on the politics, heavy on the policy, but mix in some real people as well.

"Diplomacy is not just carried out by diplomats," she said in her farewell-for-now speech from Cape Verde.

Ironically, it was one of these softer, Oprah-style moments that did her in. "My husband is not the secretary of state, I am," Mrs. Clinton snapped, after a Congolese student at a town hall meeting (also sometimes called a "townterview") asked what Mr. Clinton thought about an issue. That snippy - but totally inconsequential - comment grabbed more attention that anything else she said or did in Africa. Congo may be burning. Trouble may be brewing in Kenya. Liberia may be heroically emerging from gruesome circus to model democracy. But in the end, Africa isn't so interesting to most Americans. Hillary Clinton still is.

These trips have their own lingo, I learned, as part of the traveling press corps assigned to chronicle every speech, handshake and hug. "Bi-lats" are bilateral meetings. "Meet-n-greets" are visits to American embassies. "Camera sprays" are essentially photo opportunities, usually staged and no questions allowed, and "spray" can be used as a noun, as in, "there's a camera spray at 2 p.m. with President X" or as a verb - "come on guys, time to spray the lunch." The security agents on her plane refer to their M-4 assault rifles as their "sticks." The secretary of state is called "the package."

Traveling with this package was like covering a presidential campaign - but 10 times more exhausting. The press corps are steerage at the back of the plane, the only ones in economy seats (the rest are business-class and Mrs. Clinton has her own bedroom on board). It was a telling statement which media organizations could still afford to spring for the trip: among them, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Fox News and yes, Vogue (she's got a shot at the cover, but probably not until late fall).

Often, we were herded around like goats. "Move! Move ! Move!" her handlers would yell. The security agents were the least of our worries. It was the 20-something aides in charge of babysitting the 30-something and 40-something reporters. Many times they literally pushed us into the press van, Japanese subway style. They said it was their job.

The aides were experts at the camera spray. In eastern Congo, we needed to use two planes to land at a small airport and Mrs. Clinton's plane circled in the air for 15 minutes so journalists could land first, set up their cameras and get the arrival shot of her, the first secretary of state to swoop into Congo's conflict zone, despite the fact this very area has been a killing field since the mid-1990s.

In Liberia, though, she missed a great opportunity: Her motorcade drove right past a muddy soccer field where all the players were on crutches and had one leg. It was an amputee soccer game, a spirited match between war-injured men who refused to give up. Bill would have definitely jumped out and charged across the field to commune. Had Mrs. Clinton, that might have been the enduring image of her Africa trip, not the irritated response in Congo.

But the convoy moved on, through the lashing Liberian rain. It's strange to be in Africa in a bubble. I live in Kenya. I know how it can take two hours to get from the American embassy in Nairobi to the airport. But when the Kenyan government shuts down the main highway for Mrs. Clinton's motorcade, voila!, it takes only 16 minutes. That day, as we raced to the airport in our air-conditioned vans, we passed thousands of Kenyans lining the road. These people weren't waiting to wave goodbye. They were stuck in traffic. We looked at them and they looked at us, separated by glass and speed and unable to share even a word. In a way, it was like being in Africa without any Africans. Even most of the big-time hotels we stayed at had windows that didn't open, denying us that distinctive African pleasure that might have jolted us back to reality: catching a whiff of woodsmoke.






By Jeffrey Gettleman, The New York Times, August 15, 2009

SANTA MARIA, Cape Verde - After a grueling seven-nation, 11-day trip, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton wrapped up her Africa tour on Friday by reaffirming her promise to renovate American relations with the continent.

"I leave Africa after this remarkable trip even more committed," Mrs. Clinton said before leaving Cape Verde.

"I have seen the joy and energy Africans have, evidenced not just by the boogieing, but by the hard work and perseverance," she said, referring to a recent comment from her husband, former President Bill Clinton, that she knew how to "boogie" with African dancers.

"And we've seen the worst humanity can do to itself," she added, presumably referring to Congo, where Mrs. Clinton met victims of a brutal civil war that just does not seem to end.

Mrs. Clinton seemed satisfied that she had accomplished her mission: strengthening American relations with crucial allies on the continent, like Nigeria and South Africa, and sending a message of "tough love," as she called it, to nations like Kenya and Congo.

Over all, she said, the United States wants to work more closely with African nations as a partner, not simply as a patron or dispenser of aid. In exchange, she said, African leaders must deliver democracy and good government.

Mrs. Clinton vowed to stay on top of Africa, even after she gets back to Washington, closely monitoring the issues she addressed on her tour. She also pointed to Cape Verde, a set of palm-studded islands best known for their beaches and enormous tourist hotels, as an example of what good leadership can do.

"This is possible," she said. "You create not just economic growth but a sense of human dignity and possibility."

Kenya. South Africa. Angola. Congo. Nigeria. Liberia. And finally Cape Verde. Mrs. Clinton saw with her own eyes some of Africa's most promising countries - and some of its most troubled ones. In Kenya, she pushed for the government to prosecute perpetrators of the postelection violence last year. In South Africa, the big issue was Zimbabwe and how the South African government should do more to help ease the crisis there.

In Angola, the theme was good governing practices and oil, a strategic concern of the United States given the many inroads China has made there and elsewhere in Africa in its hunger for natural resources. In Congo, Mrs. Clinton was passionate about the need to end the nation's rape epidemic.

"The secretary's visit to the heart of the world's deadliest war zone in eastern Congo was a potential game-changer for that conflict," said John Prendergast, a founder of the Washington-based Enough project. "Her commitment to addressing root causes such as the conflict minerals that power our electronics industry was a refreshing contrast to the usual disaster sympathy tourism of visiting dignitaries."

"Now," he added, "comes the hard part: making good on the promises and living up to the high expectations engendered by her visit."

In Nigeria, Mrs. Clinton pressed for electoral changes. In Liberia, she praised the country's president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the only woman in Africa to be elected head of state.

The Liberian visit had a special warmth, almost like a meeting of long-lost cousins. Liberia was founded in the 19th century by freed American slaves, and the country's flag, the people's names and even the police uniforms with plastic-brimmed hats were all reminiscent of the American versions. Mrs. Clinton received possibly her most exuberant welcome there, and a Liberian man with a long wooden horn followed her around most of the visit, blowing out loud funny noises whenever she said something striking.

"I love that - the horn - I want to take that guy with me wherever I go," she said.

In Cape Verde, Mrs. Clinton seemed to have few bones to pick. For once, she said, she had a cheat sheet on a country that included a list of far more positives than negatives. The country has fewer than 500,000 people and has escaped the turmoil that has engulfed so much of Africa. The all-inclusive, poolside buffet resorts here feel like something found in Cancun or the Bahamas.

Mrs. Clinton called Cape Verde "a model of democracy and economic progress in Africa."

On Friday, just as she had at every stop, she started her speech by saying, "I bring you greetings from President Obama."

She called him a "son of Africa" and said that under the Obama administration, the United States was determined to help Africa reach its promise.

By Jeffrey Gettleman, The New York Times, August 14, 2009

SANTA MARIA, Cape Verde, Aug. 14 -- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton wrapped up a marathon tour of Africa on Friday in this palm-dotted island chain, saying she was leaving the region "even more committed than before I came."

Clinton appeared ebullient after an early-morning dip in the ocean and a meeting with Prime Minister Jose Maria Pereira Neves. His country was the seventh Clinton had visited on her 11-day trip.

"The Obama administration has delivered a message of tough love. We're not sugarcoating the problems, we're not shying away from them. We are investing time and effort in the people of Africa," she said at a news conference at a beach resort.

Clinton visited Africa twice as first lady, and her enthusiasm for the continent was evident. Aides said they had proposed a half-dozen countries as possible stops on the trip, expecting Clinton to select four. She instead chose all six -- and added one, they said.

Yet, despite her keen interest, it is not clear how high Africa will remain on the U.S. agenda. The Obama administration views Africa as an increasingly important source of oil and wants to prevent breakdowns in law and order that could create sanctuaries for terrorists, drug traffickers and pirates.

But the administration is grappling with higher-priority problems -- such as the war in Afghanistan and North Korea's nuclear program -- and has been slow to pull together some parts of its Africa strategy. The administration has yet to finish a policy review on war-scarred Sudan and has failed to find a director for the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Clinton announced few new initiatives on her trip. She pledged to continue two popular Bush administration programs -- the fund to fight HIV/AIDS and the Millennium Challenge development grants. President Obama announced a new foreign agricultural-assistance program last month, but the details and funding are still being worked out.

Clinton said that one of the most important accomplishments of her trip was "the relationships we have built." She took a particularly tough line on corruption in Nigeria and Kenya, and echoed Obama's emphasis on building democracy in Africa.

In addition to her official meetings, Clinton held several public roundtables and town-hall-style gatherings, where she urged citizens to get involved with politics and set up Internet mechanisms to expose corruption.

But her message was sometimes met with cynicism.

Kenyan politicians said that they did not need "lectures" from U.S. politicians and that Clinton's calls for more trade should be backed up by practical steps, including decreasing U.S. farm subsidies.

In Congo, where memories of U.S. support for dictator Mobutu Sese Seko during the Cold War still run deep, Clinton faced testy questions from students about U.S. policy and the motivation for her visit.

"Are we inspiring your pity so much that you say, 'I have to go and help these people?' " one student asked.

Clinton responded tartly: "I will be very honest with you -- we don't need to do any of this." Other African countries, she noted, welcomed U.S. help.

The trip's successes, according to Clinton's aides, included an easing of tense relations with South Africa, the region's strongest economy, and with Angola, a rising oil power whose leaders fought U.S.-backed rebels during the Cold War.

Clinton also held her first meeting with Somali President Sharif Ahmed, whom the U.S. government recently began supplying with arms to battle Islamist rebels.

The most emotional moment of the trip was a visit to war-wracked eastern Congo, where hundreds of thousands of people are packed into squalid camps and incidents of rape have reached epidemic levels.

Clinton met with two rape victims and choked up afterward as she promised more help for the women, including $17 million for medical treatment and security.

Clinton's trip ended with an emphasis on the positive, as illustrated by Cape Verde, about 300 miles off the west coast of Africa.

This former Portuguese colony was a one-party state from its independence in 1975 until 1990 and was once ranked among the world's poorest nations. In recent years, it has held democratic elections and opened its economy, which grew 5.7 percent on average from 1996 to 2006.

Clinton said she had started her trip with a cheat sheet for each African country she was visiting. Most had "many more problems than positives. In Cape Verde, there were so many more positives than problems."