Mbeki elaborates stand, but not many takers

By G. Pramod Kumar

DURBAN, JULY 10. The South African President, Mr. Thabo Mbeki, who had touched off a political storm a few months back when he questioned the universal theory of AIDS, made his stand clearer on Sunday by saying that HIV was not the only cause of AIDS, but poverty and under-development.

Are safe sex, condoms and anti-retroviral drugs a sufficient response to the health catastrophe we face? he asked. Extreme poverty is the world's biggest killer and the greatest cause of ill-health and suffering across the globe.

Speaking at the 13th International AIDS Conference, which opened to a spectacular and intensely moving start at the Kingsmead Cricket Stadium here, he said those who had nothing would perish if the forces that governed the universe deprived them of a capacity for hope for a better tomorrow.

Stressing that poverty was the basic reason for all forms of suffering, Mr. Mbeki said the gaps between the rich and the poor, between one population and another and between ages and sexes were widening. Behind all the heartening facts about the improvements in social indicators in different parts of the world, lay this unacceptable inequity. That inequity alone

should stir the conscience of the world.

In the world's richest country, one could hope to live till 79 years, but in the poorest, the limit would be only 42 years. At least 45 countries had a life expectancy of only 60 years.

In the speech that had a very visible poetic and emotional appeal, he lamented that whenever he listened to the tales of human suffering, the name that recurred was Africa. ``As I listened and heard the whole story about our own country, it seemed to me that we could not blame everything on a single virus.'' Irrespective of his health conditions, every African was a prey to many enemies of health, he said.

Mr. Mbeki said the questions he and his Government had asked about AIDS in the past were considered by some as akin to grave criminal and genocidal misconduct. ``What I hear being said repeatedly, stridently, angrily is do not ask questions. We should speak to one another honestly and frankly with sufficient tolerance to respect everybody's point of view.'' But his Government would continue to intensify its campaign against AIDS, which included steps ranging from basic awareness creation to research on anti-retroviral drugs.

In his opening statement, Mr. Peter Piot, Executive Director, UNAIDS, appealed to the international community to guarantee that no country should fail in its fight against AIDS due to lack of effective tools. There was an unprecedented increase in the political commitment and resources to fight the epidemic today, he said.

The inaugural ceremony, which judiciously mixed popular entertainment and powerful messages aimed at breaking the silence on several fronts, showcased the state-of-the-art and the traditional arts in Africa. At times it was riveting and at times, quite moving. Among the thousands of people who attended the function, people living with HIV formed a very visible group. They wore T-shirts, which proclaimed HIV Positive.

The President's speech was the most eagerly awaited political statement in the realm of HIV/AIDS. His strident stand about the AIDS theory and his antagonistic posture against the West as regards managing HIV/AIDS had created a furore all over the world. Though his participation in the conference and his clarification came as a belated relief, speakers at the conference were not happy as yet.

Delivering the First Jonathan Mann Memorial Lecture on the Deafening Silence of AIDS at the conference, Justice Edwin Camaron, who himself is a HIV positive person, said Mr. Mbeki's starting a debate at this point of time was counterproductive. The organisers too were not receptive to the President's argument. If poverty alone is the reason, why the rich also get infected? they asked.

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Section  : International
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