US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton set off on a six-nation, 11-day trip to Africa yesterday to focus on regional peace and security, as well as spurring economic growth.

The top US diplomat, whose tour will take in the world’s newest nation South Sudan and Ebola-hit Uganda, departed yesterday from Andrews Air Force base heading first to Senegal, where she will meet President Macky Sall.

Mr Sall’s coalition won a landslide majority in legislative polls earlier this month, scooping up 119 of 150 seats in the national assembly.

Mrs Clinton will “deliver a speech applauding the resilience of Senegal’s democratic institutions and highlighting America’s approach to partnership,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

A likely highlight of the trip, which will also include stops in Kenya, Malawi and South Africa, will be a meeting with 94-year-old former South African President and democracy icon Nelson Mandela.

Earlier this month, Mrs Clinton’s husband, former president Bill Clinton and her daughter, Chelsea, visited Mr Mandela at his remote childhood village, Qunu, on the eve of celebrations for his 94th birthday.

Hillary Clinton was heading off again only two weeks after returning from a trip to Europe, Asia and the Middle East, during which she visited Laos and Mongolia, bringing her tally for nations visited as Secretary of State to a record-breaking 102.

Her trip to Juba, the capital of South Sudan, will add yet another notch on her belt.