Africa's people fight AIDS, Annan says, urging continent's leaders to lead battle

The people of Africa are actively campaigning against the HIV/AIDS pandemic, United Nations Kofi Annan has said, urging the continent's leaders to lead the battle.

"In all the African countries where the fight has been successful, everyone has been mobilized," Mr. Annan said in an interview with UN Radio for its new programme, "UN and Africa."

He recalled that during a visit to Senegal he saw a "griot" traditional storyteller "urging people to protect themselves, urging them to go to hospital, urging them to be tested."

The Secretary-General's wife, Nane, asked the storyteller whether it was difficult to talk about sex. "She said, 'When it comes to AIDS, which means death, nothing should embarrass any of us - we should do it,'" he recalled.

"And yet you have African leaders who would not even want to utter the word condom because they feel it's not correct for them as fathers of the nation," Mr. Annan continued. He remembered one African leader saying, "To promote the use of condoms as a head of the nation is to promote promiscuity."

"It took two weeks for his people to convince him to urge the people to protect themselves," the Secretary-General said.

While acknowledging the need for adequate resources to stop the pandemic, he stressed that "the leadership issue is important."

For his part, Mr. Annan pledged to continue pressing African leaders "to intensify their efforts because AIDS is wreaking havoc in Africa."

Launched on 24 June, the 15-minute weekly "UN and Africa" aims to "cover topical, newsy and current-affairs-related stories about what the UN is doing for Africa, in Africa, and about Africa," according to Chief Executive Producer Ben Malor, who conducted the interview with the Secretary-General.