US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is on a seven-country tour of Africa, has urged the Democratic Republic of Congo to address the root causes of the conflict in the east of the country.

She called on Congo's government to put an end to the rape of women and girls as "weapons of war". She stressed the need to tackle the trade in minerals, such as coltan, which are dug in the war-torn eastern part of Congo for use in consumer electronics and which are seen as one of the key causes of the conflict. According to the United Nations, all sides in the civil war are guilty of human rights violations. Mrs Clinton will also visit Goma, the capital of the violent North Kivu province.