U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is visiting the DRC as part of her seven-nation tour of Africa, which is designed to promote democracy and development and strengthen US ties to the continent. Clinton met Tuesday with President Joseph Kabila in the eastern city of Goma, the capital of the volatile North Kivu province.

[image: US Sec. of State Hillary Clinton (R) is greeted by government members on arrival in Kinshasa, Congo, 10 Aug 2009] US Sec. of State Hillary Clinton is greeted by government members on arrival in Kinshasa, Congo

Kambale Musavuli, national spokesperson for the U.S.-based advocacy group Friends of the Congo, says according to the stated objectives of the State Department, the visit ?underline[s] the US commitment to collaborate with the Congolese government, the private sector, NGOs and citizens to build capacity and realize their potential. She [Clinton] is also concerned about gender-based violence in Congo and wants to highlight that during her visit.?

More than 200,000 women have been raped since 1996 in the conflict and violence in eastern Congo, according to the United Nations. Nearly six million people have died in the struggle over the past 13 years, Musavuli says.

Among the perpetrators of the fighting in the area are ethnic Hutu militias accused of committing atrocities in Rwanda?s genocide and civil war nearly 15 years ago, and local Congolese fighters, many from the Tutsi ethnic group.

?We want [Clinton] to listen to the Congolese people?. She?s going to see the victims of the war?. She will see people first hand and it will be critical for her to listen to what the Congolese people are saying,? says Musavuli.

US policymakers are encouraging the governments of Congo and Rwanda to work together to end the violence in eastern Congo.The joint efforts include military cooperation.

[image: Kambale Musavuli of Friends of the Congo] Kambale Musavuli favors negotiations that would include Congolese rebels and the country’s neighbors

But a more African approach, Musavuli says, would include a negotiating framework that would bring together all rebel forces within the country and focus more on a political solution than a military one. Besides regional powers Rwanda and Uganda, it would also include Congo?s other neighbors, some of whom are benefiting from the anarchy to exploit such lucrative minerals as gold, tungsten, and tin, which are often used in cell phones and other electrical products.

Musavuli also wants international corporations to stop practices that Transparency International and other such groups have found to be corrupt or exploitative.

The West should follow the lead of Sweden, the Netherlands and Canada, he says, in bringing pressure to bear on Rwanda and Uganda to be partners for peace.

He also calls for greater support for local institutions and pro-democracy forces in Congo and support for democratization efforts in Uganda and Rwanda, which he says would benefit the entire Great Lakes region. Source : http://www.voanews.com/english/Africa/2009-08-11-voa29.cfm

VANCOUVER, British Columbia ? (August 11, 2009) Oroco Resource Corp. (*TSX-V: OCO*) (?*Oroco*? or ?*the Company*?) is pleased to announce the initial results of its Phase Two field program commenced last month at the Cerro Prieto project in Sonora, Mexico.

As part of the 2009 exploration program, geologists sampled 900 meters of outcropping vein structure on the Argonauta concession, starting at the northern boundary of Oroco?s Cerro Prieto concessions. The samples returned high grade or anomalous gold values along the entire strike length tested. This represents a significant extension of the Cerro Prieto vein system successfully tested in Oroco?s 2008 Phase One exploration program. Together with the 1,250 meters of strike length tested in 2008, this increases the strike length on which high grade gold has now been confirmed to over two kilometers.

*Highlights of the program are as follows:*

1. The Cerro Prieto vein and mineralized zone extends for at least 900 meters north of that previously outlined by Oroco in the 2008 trenching and drilling program.

1. Intermittent sampling along the mineralized zone resulted in highly anomalous results in gold, silver, lead and zinc.

1. Complicated structural preparation (pre-mineralization faulting) in the northern 200 meters of the zone is accompanied by high gold assays including 14.90 g/t/1.0 m, 10.05 g/t/1.0 m and 21.90 g/t/0.8 m.

1. Highly anomalous lead (up to 5.4%/0.5 m) and zinc (up to 2.22%/1.0 m) values are also associated with the Cerro Prieto vein system.

A total of 122 samples were collected along a 900 meter strike length and were selectively taken across areas of veining, brecciation or fault gouge only where they are exposed ? no physical trenching was attempted. All samples with the exception of two are channel samples, with the two exceptions being composite grab samples. In the collection of channel samples attempts were made to get equal volumes of each rock type in the sample.

Sampling results are grouped into five geographic areas identified on the accompanying map (to view map go to http://www.orocoresourcecorp.com/projects-Cerro-Prieto-Project-Maps-and-Sections.html).

Area A, where 37 samples were taken, consists of the 700 meter long extension of the Cerro Prieto vein traced by drilling and trenching on the original Cerro Prieto claims. Of the 37 samples taken, 14 assayed greater than 0.5 g/t Au as shown in Table 1.

http://www.orocoresourcecorp.com/News-Releases/news-Aug-11-09.html