LILONGWE (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton paid a lightning visit to Malawi on Sunday to congratulate its new president, one of only two female heads of state in Africa, for pulling her impoverished country back from the economic brink after a political crisis.
Clinton, who is on an African tour, landed in Malawi's capital Lilongwe and headed directly to a meeting with President Joyce Banda, a veteran women's rights campaigner who had been the country's vice president and moved into the top job in April after the death of her erratic predecessor Bingu wa Mutharika.