Mr. President;
Distinguished Delegates;
Ladies and Gentlemen.

 Of all the human rights, the most basic is the right to life, a life in dignity.  Never before in Africa has this most basic of all rights been under greater siege.  But the HIV/AIDS pandemic is a global crisis. Combined with TB and malaria, it is threatening the very existence of certain groups of the human race, testing our common humanity to the limit and challenging the content and integrity of our civilisation.

 That most of the Heads of State and Government attending this Special Session are from developing countries is a testament to the obvious - that it is us who are most affected; that it is us who must lead the way; that it is us who need the greatest international support; and that it is us who dare to hope that this Special Session will produce not only a Declaration but practical commitments of urgent support as well.

 Of the 36 million HIV infected people worldwide, 70% are in sub- Saharan Africa; of the 22 million people who have died, 77% were from sub-Saharan Africa; of the 13.2 million HIV-AIDS orphans worldwide, 92% are from Africa.  "Cry, the Beloved Country", wrote Allan Paton.  And, I lament, "Cry, the Beloved Continent."

 But crying is not enough.  For, these are alarming statistics; and behind them are real human beings - flesh, blood and bones - widowed men and women, orphans who can't go to school; employers who are losing their best men and women; and nations watching as years of socio-economic progress melts away.

 Africa today is the most HIV-stricken region in the world; but no corner of this world is safe.  Countering the spread of HIV-AIDS is also in the long-term interest of present and future generations of those that today consider the pandemic too distant a threat. For, in a globalising world, in which distances are shrinking and contacts are multiplying exponentially, the impact on rich developed countries is inescapable; and their prosperity is bound to be affected by the economic decline and pervasive poverty that HIV/AIDS, if unchecked, will unleash.  As the proverb from East Africa has it, "If a dead tree falls, it carries with it a live one".

Mr. President,

 We acknowledge that the primary responsibility in the war on HIV/AIDS rests with each country.  And we are here to commit ourselves before the world to do our part.  The Abuja Declaration, and several other initiatives already taken, articulates our commitment, namely:
 

•  Our national governments will take leadership, assume ownership and increase HIV budgets;
•  They will work to raise awareness and shun all cultural inhibitions, shame and stigma;
•  They will openly promote behavioural change, including through legislation and protection of vulnerable groups;
•  They will promulgate poverty reduction strategies and programmes;
•  They will develop strategies to promote prevention and ensure effective and efficient treatment of Sexually Transmitted Diseases, the testing and counselling of pregnant women, the prevention of mother-to-child viral transmission, and the treatment of opportunistic infections.
• They will discharge their responsibility for, and will lend support to, community based management of the well being of orphans.
• And, they will more seriously address conflicts that are a major factor in increasing poverty and HIV infection.

Mr. President,

 We in Africa have demonstrated political will and resolve towards such a holistic approach and strategy.  This year alone we have done so at:
 

• The SADC Health Ministers Conference in Gaborone on 5 - 6 April 2001;
• The African Summit of HIV/AIDS, TB, Malaria and other Infections Diseases in Abuja, on 24 - 27 April 2001;
• The Pre-World Health Assembly Meeting of Commonwealth Ministers of Health in Geneva, on 13 May 2001;
•  The Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Meeting on Advocacy for Action on Stigma and HIV/AIDS in Africa in Dar es Salaam on 4 - 6 June 2001; and we will renew these pledges at the Lusaka OAU Summit next month.

Mr. President,

 It is one thing for Africa to assume leadership and ownership of this holistic and integrated approach, and quiet another to get it operational and produce results.  For, the cost of implementation is patently prohibitive and overwhelming, especially as we have another war front, that against poverty.  We are here to appeal for greater partnership and more help, with new resources, not repackaged existing aid programmes.

 For a country like Tanzania, even developing the national capacity to effectively and efficiently treat all Sexually Transmitted Diseases, TB, Malaria, and opportunistic infections on our own is impossible; so is the prospect of building the national capacity for blood screening, for widespread HIV testing and counselling, for measuring viral loads in patients, for the infrastructure to deliver and monitor the dispensation of anti-retroviral drugs, and finally the cost of the anti-retroviral drugs themselves.  We thank those pharmaceutical companies that have agreed to offer the drugs at cost.  But for Tanzania, where half of the people live on less than a dollar a day, drugs that cost a dollar a day remain only a dream for most of the victims.

 This Special Session should, therefore, not only make an eloquent call for help and partnership, but also determine the form it should take.
 

•  First is the Global Fund, and here I thank the UN Secretary General, His Excellency Kofi Annan and Dr. Peter Piot for initiating and championing it.  I thank those that have already made or promised contributions, and I call for more to restore life.
•  Secondly, the Least Developed Countries should be accorded total debt forgiveness, on the understanding that considerable relief will be directed towards combating HIV/AIDS.
• Pharmaceutical companies do not really make most of their profit in LDCs.  So they should lower the price of the anti-retroviral drugs further.  We ask developed countries to agree to a mechanism whereby they can absorb the genuine losses to the pharmaceutical companies.
•  Support our state-sponsored research into traditional medicines for the treatment of opportunistic infections, for enhancing the immune systems, and for the treatment of other infections diseases.
•  Support our efforts to resolve regional conflicts and implement negotiated peace accords.

Mr. President,

 The world has never faced a greater threat to the human race, not even during the World Wars.  In what we agree to do, or not to do, we are defining and redefining the content and limits of our humanity, and the arbiter will be the future for those that will remain to tell the story.

 There are those who say cheap drugs are not a priority for Africa.  We also don't think they are a panacea.  But we say they are important.  Every life they extend is as important in Africa as it is in rich countries.  For every baby that is saved from being infected from its mother, we are building the foundation of the future of our continent.  As of now, only one out of 2500 HIV-positive Africans is on anti-retroviral drug therapy. The rest are left to die.

 Then there are those that accuse the Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, of raising unrealistic expectations.  To us, that is not the problem.  The real problem is lack of political will among some of the rich countries and corporations.  If rich countries can spend over USD 300 billion a year to subsidize agriculture which accounts for less than 10% of their GDP, and if they could spend over USD 100 billion on Y2K, they can surely spare USD 10 billion for the Global Fund to save and prolong the lives of tens of millions of poor people.  The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation thankfully had the will to contribute USD 100 million.

 No, the Secretary-General is not raising unrealistic expectations; he is only asking the world to do what is in its collective power to achieve in partnership, in human solidarity, to save millions of lives, particularly in Africa, thus safeguarding the continent's future.  What are the limits of realism when nearly 3 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa died of AIDS related diseases last year alone and more will die this year?

 The future of Africa depends on its people, including its young people, who are its most important resource. And today, it is this very resource that is under the greatest and unprecedented threat.  Under such circumstances, where does one draw the line between what is realistic and what is not?  Tempered by the realisation that it is the survival of human kind which is veritably at stake, no expectation can ever seem unrealistic, no river too wide to cross, no depths too deep to fathom and no heights too high to reach.

 Hannibal, one of the greatest military strategists of ancient times said, "We must either find a way, or make one".  In the war on HIV/AIDS we too must find a way, or make one.  For as the HIV/AIDS death toll mounts we should not ask for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for all of us.

 I thank you for your kind attention.