US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton should emphasize human rights on her seven-nation trip to Africa.

The Angolan government should immediately end the unlawful detention and torture of people suspected of rebel activities in the oil-rich enclave province of Cabinda.

The government should address the failings in the 2008 parliamentary elections and ensure that the resounding victory of the ruling Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) does not translate into further restrictions of civil and political freedoms.

The Angolan government should urgently end torture and unfair trials in state security cases. Fourteen civilians who were arbitrarily detained and tortured in military custody are currently being held on security charges in the Angolan enclave of Cabinda.

Under a new law signed today by US President George W. Bush, leaders of military forces and armed groups who have recruited child soldiers may be arrested and prosecuted in the United States.

Angola’s parliamentary elections on September 5, 2008, reportedly won by the ruling MPLA party, were marred by numerous irregularities. Preliminary results indicate that the MPLA won more than 80 percent of the vote, the first held in Angola since 1992.

For years now, women’s groups in Southern Africa have campaigned tirelessly to ensure that the Southern African Development Community adopt the Protocol on Gender and Development. Yesterday, the SADC finally took that historic step. Member states will be obliged to amend their laws to ensure equal rights for women across a wide range of issues, from provisions that require member states to enshrine equality in their constitutions, to firm commitments to reduce maternal mortality by 75 per cent. But while that’s a cause for celebration, the Protocol still does not refer explicitly to domestic violence, and it still doesn’t oblige states to introduce legal provisions that criminalise marital rape.

Southern African leaders should adopt the proposed Gender and Development Protocol at their upcoming summit after amending it to include crucial provisions deleted in 2007. One of the most important provisions that should be put back in to the protocol would commit states to criminalize marital rape.