**US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in South Africa on the second leg of her 11-day tour of the continent.**Mrs Clinton will hold meetings with her South African counterpart and with former President Nelson Mandela on the first of three days in the country.
Talks will focus on business and on HIV/Aids, which affects nearly 6 million South Africans.
In the coming days she will meet President Jacob Zuma, for talks likely to include the situation in Zimbabwe.
Correspondents say Mrs Clinton will ask Mr Zuma to use his influence to combat what she has called “negative effects of the continuing presidency of President [Robert] Mugabe” in Zimbabwe.
Relations between the US and South Africa were warm during the 1990s under Presidents Mandela and Bill Clinton, says the BBC’s Jonah Fisher in Johannesburg.
A commission was established to prioritise areas of co-operation but when Mr Clinton left the White House this was quietly forgotten.
South African officials hope that the visit by Mrs Clinton, the former US president’s wife, will signal a new period of cooperation, says our correspondent.
On Friday morning, Mrs Clinton is holding talks with South African Foreign Minister Nkoana-Mashabane and Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe.
Later, she will meet Mr Mandela, South Africa’s first black president, and attend a conference with Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi before travelling to the South African capital Pretoria for National Women’s Day events.
African potential
Mrs Clinton began her seven-nation African tour in Kenya on Wednesday where she held talks in Nairobi with Kenya’s president and prime minister.
CLINTON’S AFRICAN TOUR
- Kenya
- South Africa
- Nigeria
- Angola
- Liberia
- Democratic Republic of Congo
- Cape Verde
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Addressing African leaders at an economic summit, Mrs Clinton said the continent had “enormous potential for progress”.
But she stressed that harnessing that potential would require democracy and good governance.
Before Mrs Clinton arrived in Kenya, the US embassy in Nairobi had issued a statement scolding Kenya for its decision not to set up a local court to seek justice for the victims of the deadly clashes which followed the 2007 election.
On Thursday, Mrs Clinton met the Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed in the Kenyan capital.
She offered to increase US support for his unity government and to “take action” against neighbouring Eritrea if it does not stop supporting militants in Somalia.
Eritrea denies supporting Somalia’s al-Shabab militants, who are trying to overthrow Somalia’s government.
During her 11-day trip Mrs Clinton will also visited South Africa, Nigeria, Angola, Liberia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Cape Verde.