News (Updated May 14, 2006)
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Wed May 10, 2006 11:00 AM ET
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NAIROBI (Reuters) - An apology by South Africa's former deputy president for having unprotected sex with an HIV-positive woman will not make up for the harm done to efforts to fight AIDS there, a top UN official said on Wednesday.
"I don't think anything can compensate for the damage he has done," said Stephen Lewis, the United Nations Secretary General's Special envoy for AIDS in Africa.
Zuma, one of South Africa's most popular politicians, was on Monday acquitted of raping an HIV positive family friend.
He stunned observers and outraged AIDS activists during the trial when he said he took a shower after sex to minimize the risk of contracting HIV. He later apologized for having sex without a condom and said he would preach safe sex.
"The outlandish and unacceptable male behavior, which he demonstrated through his testimony on HIV, were appallingly uninformed in a country that is wrestling with the highest number of infections in the world," Lewis told a news conference in Nairobi.
The trial judge slammed Zuma's behavior as "unacceptable" for a man who had once led the country's anti-AIDS efforts.
South Africa has one of the highest rates of rape in the world and the world's biggest HIV caseload with some 5 million people infected.
Lewis said Zuma's comments had highlighted the attitude of South Africa's government, which has been criticized for its handling of the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
"The voice of the government in South Africa has been confused or confusing (on HIV/AIDS) ... the voice of Jacob Zuma made it more unpalatable," Lewis said.
President Thabo Mbeki's government has been criticized by groups who say it has downplayed both the AIDS crisis and the efficacy of anti-retroviral drugs, the only treatment known to slow the course of the disease.
The government introduced a public ARV treatment program in late 2003 but the national rollout has been slow and only slightly more than 40,000 people are enrolled.
Zuma, who still faces corruption charges, has said he will resume his duties at the ruling African National Congress Party.
Tue May 9, 2006 10:39 AM ET
By Rebecca Harrison
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - The acquittal of former Deputy President Jacob Zuma on rape charges has set South Africa back by decades in its fight against sexual violence and a brutal AIDS epidemic, activists said on Tuesday.
Zuma was cleared of raping an HIV-positive family friend on Monday after a trial that delved into the accuser's sexual history and saw one of South Africa's most popular politicians downplaying the risk of having sex without a condom.
South Africa is battling one of the world's highest rates of rape due to deep-seated sexism and rampant violence, and the biggest HIV caseload, with some 5 million people infected.
In a ruling activists said reinforced dangerous stereotypes about AIDS and women, the judge said an "inappropriately dressed" complainant flirted with Zuma before agreeing to sleep with him, then later fabricated a rape story.
"This is huge setback for women's rights," said Dawn Cavanagh, advocacy coordinator for activist group Gender AIDS Forum. "The judge is feeding into stereotypes about women."
Judge Willem van der Merwe said it was "inexcusable" that Zuma -- who once led South Africa's anti-AIDS campaign -- slept with an HIV-positive women without a condom, prompting an apology from the man many want as South Africa's next president.
"I apologize. I have no doubt about it and it (was) a mistake. The war against AIDS -- I will stand for it and I will continue to preach even using myself as an example," Zuma said, denying he had harmed efforts to curb the disease.
"TRAGIC"
But the country's best-known AIDS campaigners Treatment Action Campaign said Zuma's testimony that he took a shower after sex to minimize the risk of contracting HIV was "tragic."
"The conduct of this trial has put in question the principles of the equality of women; the prevention of HIV; the exercise of responsible sexual behavior..." the TAC said.
Gender activists criticized the judge for saying the accuser was inappropriately dressed, for accepting detailed testimony on her sexual history and for implying that not saying "no" means sex is consensual.
"Somewhere people have a conception of the perfect rape for a conviction, which involves a stranger, a weapon, a witness and a struggle," said Carrie Shelver, public awareness manager at People Opposing Women Abuse. "The truth is that sexual violence is not like that, it is messy, just like life."
They said Zuma had not done enough to quell sexism among his supporters, who during the trial burned pictures of the complainant outside the court and yelled "burn the bitch."
"Just look at this handsome man," said 38-year-old Eugenia Yantcho, brandishing a photograph of Zuma after the verdict on Monday. "How could you say he would rape anyone?"
Several of Zuma's deeply conservative supporters -- many wearing the traditional dress of his Zulu tribe -- held placards reading "No woman for president," a reference to Phumzile Mlambo-Nguka, the woman who replaced Zuma as deputy president.
"We don't want a woman president. God didn't create women for that," said 19-year-old Moscow Mashegoane. "We want Zuma."
Thursday May 11, 6:21 PM
Johannesburg's Sunday Times said at the weekend authorities had decided to send the woman into exile over concerns for her safety following the trial during which Zuma's supporters shouting "burn the bitch" set alight photos of the accuser in front of the courthouse.
The Star said the 31-year-old woman, who cannot be named under South African law, was brought to Johannesburg airport under heavy guard on Wednesday night and escorted through check-in.
She waved to relatives and then proceeded to board a flight to a destination the newspaper said it knew but did not disclose.
The National Prosecution Authority declined comment on the report, referring inquiries to police.
Police spokeswoman Sally de Beer said: "I have no comment on that. Any comment on a witness under protection would be extremely counterproductive."
Since accusing Zuma of rape, the woman's family home in KwaZulu-Natal was reportedly twice broken into by unknown people. She and her mother have since been under police protection.
The nearly two-month trial was marked by daily demonstrations by supporters of Zuma, one of South Africa's most charismatic politicians and once seen as the frontrunner to succeed President Thabo Mbeki in 2009.
Zuma and his supporters characterised the rape charges as part of a smear campaign by his enemies in the ruling African National Congress (ANC) determined to prevent him from becoming the country's next president.
Zuma denied the rape allegations, and Judge Willem van der Merwe acquitted him on Monday, accepting his testimony that she had consensual sex with the HIV-positive woman.
At a news conference on Tuesday Zuma tendered an unreserved apology for having unprotected sex with the long-time family friend, even though he knew she was infected with HIV.
He also issued an appeal for the woman to be left in peace to pursue a normal life in South Africa.
Anti-rape campaigners, who staged rival protests at the trial, said Zuma supporters had hurled abuse and lobbed objects at activists and a woman mistaken for the accuser.
Police guards shielded the woman and hustled her past baying Zuma supporters on the days she testified in court, accusing Zuma of raping her last November during an overnight stay at his Johannesburg home.
The rape charges followed Zuma's sacking by Mbeki in June amid a corruption scandal. Zuma faces a separate trial on graft charges in July. He denies any wrongdoing.
Thursday May 11, 7:07 PM
 Photo: Reuters |
"The retrial case was postponed and will resume on June 13, with the defendants remaining in detention," judge Mahmoud Chaouissa said.
Lawyers for the six medics, who have been in jail since 1999, had asked the court to release them on bail but the judge dismissed the demand.
None of those involved in the long proceedings seemed discouraged by the delay.
"It is a good start and the postponement underlined the court's eagerness to better check the facts and the evidence of the case," the medics' lead lawyer, Othman Bizanti, told Reuters.
Idriss Lagha, a spokesman for the families of the infected children said: "The start of the retrial is good and the postponement is a normal court decision."
Bulgaria's Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying it hoped hearings would be scheduled without long adjournments.
"We expect the new panel of the court in Tripoli to take into account the serious violations already made in procedure as well as the explicit evidence of the medics' innocence presented by the defence," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Dimitar Tsanchev.
The medics first stood trial in 2004 on charges they infected 426 Libyan children with the HIV virus when they worked in a Benghazi hospital. Around 50 of the children have died and the case has fuelled outrage among the families of the victims.
The five Bulgarian nurses and the Palestinian doctor were sentenced to death in May 2004.
Bulgaria and its allies, the United States and the European Union, insist the nurses are innocent, citing evidence they were tortured to confess and testimony by world AIDS experts that the spread of AIDS started before they began work at the hospital.
COMPENSATION
Libya's supreme court overturned death sentences for the six medics in December after an appeal by the defence on both substance and procedure, and ordered a retrial at a court in Tripoli chaired by Mahmoud Ghouissa.
Going into the start of their retrial on Thursday, the defendants seemed more relaxed than at previous hearings.
But in court doctor Ashraf Alhajouj complained of what he called official bias against him.
"The authorities are treating better the nurses than me. They have access to international phone to contact families, not me. They are allowed to be visited by their families, not me," the Palestinian doctor told the court.
Alhajouj has family in Libya, where his father is a university teacher and his sister a lawyer, but other relatives live abroad. The judge promised to look into his complaint.
Tripoli has suggested the nurses could go free if money were provided to cover financial compensation for the families of the victims and medical treatment for the children.
The victims' families have demanded 4.4 billion euro (3 billion pounds) from a group of international donors trying to settle the dispute, although Bulgaria itself has refused to pay any compensation, saying it would be a recognition of guilt.
But the United States, EU, Libya and Bulgaria have agreed to back the establishment of an aid fund, and are seeking ways to help the victims and their families.
The convictions have become a major sticking point to Libya's efforts to emerge from decades of diplomatic isolation.
Libya protested to Bulgaria on May 3 over a newspaper's cartoons of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in the run-up to the retrial. One of the cartoons in the daily newspaper Novinar depicted Gaddafi with a devil's trident standing round a cauldron where five medical caps were floating.
The Libyan embassy in Sofia expressed "deep indignation and disappointment" at the cartoons, Bulgarian radio has said.
(Additional reporting by Michael Winfrey in Sofia)
Sun May 7, 2006 12:13 PM ET
By David Lewis
GOREE ISLAND, Senegal (Reuters) - A 41-year-old New Yorker set off from West Africa in a 24-foot wooden boat on a 3,000 mile solo row across the Atlantic on Sunday, hoping to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS and commemorate the slave trade.
Victor Mooney crawled on his hands and knees through the colonial slave house on Goree Island -- facing the Senegalese capital Dakar -- before emerging at the "Gate of No Return" through which black slaves once boarded waiting vessels.
He then swam to his boat and set off westwards for New York's Brooklyn Bridge in his boat, John Paul the Great.
He is due to retrace the route of vessels that took tens of thousands of captives from African slaving ports to the Americas.
"As an African American, as a descendant of some part of West Africa, I feel my ancestors saying 'Welcome home'. I am sure they will guide me as I go in this direction," he said.
"There are two objectives -- HIV/AIDS and to memorialize our (enslaved) ancestors," Mooney told Reuters earlier as he packed military food rations, sea charts, all-weather gear and medical supplies into his boat.
Mooney hopes his trip across the Atlantic will raise awareness of the plight of millions suffering from AIDS in Africa, the world's poorest continent.
One of Mooney's brothers died from AIDS and another is HIV positive, so the rower's challenge is a personal one. But he also wants the publicity to help ensure anti-retroviral drugs are more widely available in Africa.
AIDS has orphaned more than 12 million children in Africa and is cutting the continent's workforce down in its prime.
The former public affairs officer says he is very much aware of the scale of the task of paddling across the Atlantic in a 24-foot (7 meter) wooden boat.
"As I don't have a motor or a sail, I could end up in South America or the southern region of the Caribbean," he acknowledged. "Of course, I'm nervous."
Mooney, who has trained for two years, expects to cover the 3,000 nautical miles in four months but then will take longer to row to New York once he is in American waters.
A small group of Senegalese and handful of tourists gathered on the rocky beach to watch the American set off on Sunday.
"I know the sea and how it gets. That man is going to have trouble in that boat -- he doesn't even seem to know how to row," said a local boatman who saw him take his first strokes.
by Penny MacRaeThu May 11, 8:11 AM ET
A legal challenge has
been launched in India against a patent application for a vital AIDS drug
and the outcome could affect thousands of lives in the developing world,
health groups said.
The wrangle is one of the first big tests of India's 2005 patent law curbing the right of firms to make copycat versions of drugs that have slashed the prices of anti-retroviral AIDS treatment and other drugs in the Third World.
"This is about lives," Loon Gante, head of the Delhi Network of Positive People, told AFP. The network is party to the suit filed this week along with the Indian Network of People Living With Aids.
"We're not against big pharmaceutical companies, we just want the drugs to be made and for them to be accessible and affordable to people everywhere," said Gante. He is among India's 5.1 million people who are HIV-positive, the second highest number in the world after South Africa.
The suit against a patent application filed by California-based Gilead Sciences involves a drug called tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, which has fewer known side affects than others in the anti-retroviral arsenal. It is among around 7,000 to 9,000 applications in "the patent mailbox" in India.
The World Health Organisation has just recommended the medicine for patients undergoing treatment for the first time. It says it is also good for those who have been on anti-retroviral therapy and who require newer drugs because they have become resistant to other first-line drugs.
"Granting the patent would set a dangerous precedent for access to important drugs," said lawyer Amin Tahir of India's non-profit Alternative Law Forum handling the case, adding he expected a ruling in four to six months.
If Gilead were granted the patent, generic production of tenofovir in India, where a generic version has been marketed since 2005, could be prevented until 2018, said Doctors Without Borders.
In addition, future generic production of fixed-dose combination pills containing tenofovir would also be blocked. Such combination drugs have had a big impact in scaling up global AIDS treatment by simplifying it, it said.
"Limiting production of tenofovir and that of other newer essential drugs to a single company keeps prices high because generic competition is blocked," said Ellen 't Hoen, policy director for the group's campaign for access to essential medicine.
A generic version of the drug -- tenvir -- is being produced by one of India's biggest generic players, Cipla, which says it plans to export it to Africa where millions of people live with HIV-AIDS.
Cipla, which has also filed a challenge to Gilead's patent application, said it was confident of succeeding.
Gilead's patent application did not conform to India's new patent act as the drug was known before 1995 and did not have the "novelty" required under the law to be granted a patent, Cipla chairman Yusuf Hamied told AFP.
Gilead could not be reached for comment but says on its website it offers low-cost "global access" in developing countries.
India's new law recognising foreign patents was introduced to comply with world trade rules and ended a copycat trade that allowed pharmaceutical makers to duplicate drugs patented abroad as long as they used a different process.
The act has escape clauses allowing the government to force patent-holders to grant licences to local firms in the event of national health emergencies.
By BETH RUCKER, Associated Press WriterThu May 11, 5:43 PM ET
First lady Laura Bush challenged the graduating class at Vanderbilt University to participate in Gulf Coast rebuilding efforts, saying helping others can bring happiness.
"It doesn't matter what career you're pursuing, before you start a new job or go to grad school, dedicate a vacation to recovery," she said Thursday morning at Vanderbilt's Senior Day graduation celebration. "It will be time well spent."
Bush encouraged students to volunteer their talents anywhere in the world there was a need, specifically mentioning Africa's fight against HIV and AIDS.
She acknowledged the efforts of students who have already traveled to the Gulf Coast region and abroad to do humanitarian work, and told students it was impossible to ignore things like a tsunami in southeast Asia or the Darfur genocide in Sudan with the abundance of information on television and the Internet.
"If your compass remains fixed on others, you will chart your way to happiness," Bush said.
The first lady, a former teacher and librarian, also joked with the students, saying she couldn't remember the commencement speaker from her own graduation at the University of Texas at Austin in 1973, when she received her master's degree in library science.
"I hate to admit this, I skipped the ceremony," she said. "I did look it up, and I found out who gave that commencement address. You can imagine my surprise when I discovered it was some guy named George Bush. Four years after that speech, I married his son."
Bush also accepted the school's inaugural Nichols-Chancellor Medal, honoring humanitarian efforts, on behalf of relief workers around the world.
By NATASHA T. METZLER, Associated Press WriterWed May 10, 10:38 PM ET
Actor Matt Damon is back from a trip to Africa with a passion for fighting AIDS and praise for President Bush's relief program.
"The work that's being done and the people that I met who are on the front lines there, I just came away feeling like we're going to beat this," he said in a telephone interview Wednesday.
Damon returned April 29 from a six-day trip to Africa. He spent most of his time there in Zambia, which had an HIV/AIDS prevalence rate of 16.5 percent in 2003, according to the CIA's World Factbook. The U.S. prevalence rate was 0.6 percent in 2003.
Damon visited a number of sites including a clinic sponsored by the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, an independent charity.
"You walk into these clinics; you're surrounded by people who are alive and well because of the president's plan and because of this money," he said.
Damon's trip was organized by the DATA Foundation, a nonprofit Africa advocacy group, and the ONE Campaign, a coalition of groups working to fight AIDS and poverty.