QUESTION: How are you, Secretary Clinton? My name is Travis Atkins. I’m an International Affairs Fellow with the Council on Foreign Relations focusing on Sudan this year. And my question is if – you mentioned Darfur once in your talk – if you could elaborate a little bit on our ramped up efforts in Sudan as we head towards the referendum there in January.

Ambassador Rice: I want to begin by thanking Assistant Secretary General Khare and SRSG Wallstrom for what was both in the chamber and in our consultations a very frank, comprehensive and we think illuminating briefing on the tragic events that transpired over the last several weeks in Eastern DRC. The rapes, the sexual violence are outrageous and the United States and the Council have condemned them in the most forceful terms. But today, we got additional information which shed more light on what transpired, how and why. Many of the questions that we had been asked I feel have been well answered, and we had the opportunity in consultations to really delve into such issues as why was it that when the UN patrols went through the areas subsequently they were not informed of the rapes that had occurred by the villagers. We were able to learn better about the communications infrastructure and what might be done to improve it. We were able to understand better some of the delays in information flowing up the chain from the field all the way through to the Security Council. It was a very helpful and constructive discussion.

Five decades ago, 17 African countries threw off the brutal and degrading yoke of colonialism. The 50th anniversary of African national liberation is an opportunity to critically reflect on the era of post-colonial Africa, which began with luminous hope but has been marred by a leitmotif of grinding disappointment and failure. No one has suffered more from the continent's post-colonial misfortunes and misadventures than its women.