Clinton's Africa trip breaks little new ground

By Sue Pleming - Analysis

ABUJA (Reuters) - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's wraps up her Africa trip on Friday, urging nations such as Nigeria and Kenya to tackle graft but showing no big policy shifts by the Obama administration toward the continent.

For the most part, experts said the 11-day, seven-nation trip was a goodwill and listening tour, following up after U.S. President Barack Obama's one-stop Africa trip to Ghana in July.

"I expected more than just the hugging of the status quo," said Africa expert Bronwyn Bruton of the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington.

"I have the impression that she reached out and let it be known that Africa is on the radar, but Clinton is also trying to make the most of the existing framework," she added.

The trip was her longest as secretary of state and aimed at proving Africa was a priority for the first African-American U.S. president, whose father was from Kenya.

But no major initiatives or "goodies" were announced, except for $17 million in new aid for sexual violence victims in Democratic Republic of Congo and funding for AIDS programs.

"There were enormous expectations after Obama was elected and after the inauguration. People thought that the flood gate of aid will be opened but now they are aware of the limitations," said Tom Wheeler of the South African Institute of International Affairs.

Africa policies are still being formulated in two key places -- Sudan and Somalia -- and domestic politics from health care to the economic crisis are priorities.

Washington is also juggling wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, seeking to rein in the nuclear programs of Iran and North Korea and trying to broker Israeli-Palestinian peace.

GOVERNANCE THEME

Princeton Lyman, former U.S. ambassador to Nigeria and South Africa -- both stops on Clinton's trip - said her tour would be remembered for its good governance message, which Obama called for in his Ghana speech, saying Western aid depended on it.

"The theme of better governance will be the mantra of the Obama administration," Lyman said.

Her toughest anti-graft message was in Kenya, where a sharp tone was easiest to digest because of Obama's heritage.

"It is tough, but it is also lovingly presented. President Obama very much wants Kenya to be the leaders of a reform movement," Clinton told students at the University of Nairobi.

"It is where his blood comes from," she said in Abuja.