As U.S. Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton arrives in Nairobi, Kenya, to begin a seven-nation Africa tour, one NGO
is calling on her to remember the continent's poor.
Brian
Kagoro, pan-African policy director for ActionAid in Nairobi, says Secretary
Clinton's visit should not focus only on oil, timber and gas exporting
countries. He says it should also look at ways to help women and Africa's
poorest people, who work in the agricultural and textile industries.
Kagoro
says Clinton will have to address the issues of working women because "women
within the agriculture and textile sector constitute the majority of the employees. They work in conditions that would not meet
international labor standards for health and safety, and for production of
goods for exports to destinations such as the United States."