Addis Ababa, Ethiopia — UN secretary general Kofi Annan Thursday officially launched the International Partnership Against AIDS in Africa to be spearheaded by the world body, which he said would henceforth focus "on a new spirit of co-operation in building responses" in the fight against the pandemic.

He stated that the partnership was an outcome of the call he had made a year ago on five key players - to develop "an unprecedented response to an unprecedented crisis (HIV/AIDS) that has greatly affected Africa."

"I'm pleased to report that the partnership has made an excellent start," Annan told the 2nd African Development Forum, that has been deliberating since Sunday on the theme, AIDS: The Greatest Leadership Challenge."

He said the fight against the pandemic called for "complete social mobilisation and resources."

"Above all, the challenge of AIDS is a test of leadership," Annan stated.

Listening attentively to his address included leaders from Ethiopia, Botswana, Rwanda, Uganda, Malawi, Chad and Senegal.

He paid tribute to the leaders, saying that their presence at African Development Forum on AIDS demonstrated "admirable commitment" in the fight against AIDS.

"The first step towards dealing with the pandemic is official recognition of the problem," he declared.

"AIDS requires us all to speak up and speak out, to open our eyes to suffering, to open our minds to new ways of thinking and our arms to people living with HIV/AIDS who need help and support," he added.

He stated that he was aware that the response against AIDS had been "painfully slow in the great multilateral community."

But when the international community "is finally galvanised," he said, it was his ardent hope that historians would look back at the African Development Forum 2000 gathering and say: "This is where the breakthrough occurred."