Clinton to visit Turkey Saturday for Syria talks

LILONGWE: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will travel to Turkey next Saturday for talks on the conflict in Syria, a State Department spokeswoman said.

"Clinton goes to Istanbul for bilateral consultations with the Turkish government on Syria as well as to cover other timely issues," the spokeswoman told reporters in the Malawian capital Lilongwe.

Clinton, who arrived in Malawi on the latest leg of her Africa tour, has added trips to Nigeria and Benin before travelling to Istanbul, the spokeswoman said.

The conflict in Syria has claimed more than 21,000 lives since the regime of President Bashar al-Assad launched a brutal crackdown on dissent in March last year, according to opposition activists. (AFP)