Durban - US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton met with South African President Jacob Zuma on Saturday in a bid to improve strained ties with the country.The pair held talks in the port city of Durban, a day after Clinton praised a warming in ties between the United States and South Africa since the recent elections in both countries of new presidents.
President Barack Obama is eager to remake a relationship that had suffered during the Bush administration due to differences with former South African President Thabo Mbeki's government over the cause and treatment of Aids and the crisis in Zimbabwe.
"In both countries there are two new administrations which are taking that relationship a level higher. That is what we are trying to do," Zuma said after the 45-minute long meeting.
Clinton said that Zuma and Obama had told her and South Africa's foreign minister "to put meat on the bone, to get to work to make sure the expectations of President Zuma and President Obama are met."
The top US diplomat is on the second leg of a seven-nation tour of Africa aimed in part at bolstering trade and development. On the table during her discussions with Zuma, Clinton said, were African issues "from Somalia to Zimbabwe to Sudan."
* News 24
