Clinton begins African tour Wednesday

Former US President Bill Clinton is expected to arrive in Johannesburg Wednesday at the start of an African tour that will also take him to Malawi, Zambia and Tanzania to oversee projects under his Clinton Foundation, according to a media advisory released here Saturday by the Clinton Foundation ahead of the tour.

Clinton's first stop will be Johannesburg, South Africa, where he will, among other engagements, meet with President Thabo Mbeki Thursday and address the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

Later in the day, he will meet with Johannesburg city officials, who are implementing the Clinton Climate Initiative's Energy Efficiency Building Retrofit Programme.

On Friday, Clinton leaves South Africa for Malawi, where he will hold a 30-minute closed-door discussion with President Bingu wa Mutharika in the capital, Lilongwe, before flying by helicopter to the southern district of Neno.

"President Clinton and his entourage will visit the construction site of a rural hospital established by the Clinton-Hunter Development Initiative and Partners in Health, where he will meet with rural farmers who are part of the Clinton-Hunter Development Initiative's Sustainable Agriculture project," said the advisory.

The 42nd American President is scheduled to leave Malawi for Lusaka, Zambia, later Friday afternoon.

While In Zambia, Clinton is scheduled to attend a youth outreach soccer tournament hosted by local leaders to appeal to young people in Zambia about the importance of HIV/AIDS testing.

From Zambia, Clinton will leave for Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Sunday, from where he will return to the US Tuesday.

This is Clinton's second visit to Africa in the past one year.

Last July, Clinton, joined by the Scottish philanthropist Tom Hunter - with whom he has joined hands for the African cause - also made a flying visit to Malawi, where the two unveiled plans to initiate rural growth centres in Malawi.

William Jefferson Clinton, 61, is largely viewed as the 'first black president' of America because of his closeness to causes of African Americans and his interest in developing Africa.

Soon after stepping down as president, Clinton - the first Democratic President since Franklin Delano Roosevelt to win a second term of office - founded the Clinton Foundation, whose main mission is to strengthen the capacity of people in the United States and throughout the world to meet the challenges of global interdependence.