Clinton acknowledges wrongness of slavery

Yesterday, in a speech to school children outside the Ugandan capital, Kampala, President Clinton acknowledged that the United States was wrong to benefit from slavery.

He said the U.S. had not always done the right thing by Africa, and that perhaps its worst sin had been that of neglect and ignorance.

But correspondents say he stopped short of the explicit apology demanded by some black groups in the United States.

Earlier this week, the Ugandan President, Yoweri Museveni, said he didn't believe President Clinton should make a public apology for America's role in the slave trade.

He said tribal chiefs bore more responsibility for slavery than European and American slave traders.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service