Washington, DC — "If you're talking about an African recovery, you cannot but discuss AIDS and really confront it," said South African President Thabo Mbeki before starting discussions with president Bush in the White House Oval Office Tuesday morning.
Inside and outside of South Africa Mbeki, who has questioned the link between HIV and AIDS, has received sharp criticism for not doing enough for AIDS victims in South Africa. He has been accused of dooming thousands to an early death by preventing the distribution of potentially helpful anti retroviral drugs.
Mbeki will not attend a UN conference on AIDS that is underway. His absence is disturbing and puzzling, says Salih Booker of Africa Action, a U.S.-based advocay group. "They [South Africa] keep squandering opportunity to clean up their act on AIDS. Not to go to the United Nations and to go to Philadephia to meet with Merck [pharmaceutical] is extremely unstrategic," says Booker.
"There's no remedies being made available to people through the South African health system," charges former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Chester Crocker who generally admires Mbeki and South Africa's leadership.
"People must look at what we're doing in South Africa -- not their perception of what they think we're doing, but what we're doing actually in the country," said Mbeki. "And I don't think on the basis of facts an accusation like that can be sustained."
Mbeki and other South African officials argue that other diseases wreak havoc across Africa. "TB still kills more Africans than AIDS," said South African Ambassador Sheila Sisulu.
Although President Bush has committed US$200 million to a UN global AIDS fund, he has been criticized for not pledging more. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has said the UN fund will need from US$7-10 billion annually to effectively fight the disease. "The AIDS pandemic in Africa is terrible," said Bush. "And our nation intends to do something about it. Pointing out that the U.S. contributes more money to the AIDS fight than any nation in the world, Bush said the United States will "continue to work with nations that can afford to put money into the [UN AIDS] trust to do so."
The Oval Office meeting was the first between the two presidents since Bush gained the presidency earlier this year. They did meet in May 2000 when Mbeki paid a "courtesy call" on then-governor Bush at his Texas mansion.
At the start of today's White House meeting, Mbeki appealed to President Bush for help with Africa's efforts to "turn the corner" on the problems of violence, conflict, poverty and disease. "You know the challenges we face in South Africa, Mr. President, and the challenges we face on the African continent. And quite clearly, we need your support and involvement in order to solve these problems."
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Mbeki is promoting a Millennium African Recovery Plan (MAP)which he and the Presidents of Nigeria and Algeria drafted. Health is one of the Plan's five priority areas and South Africa is responsible for the draft of that program area, said Ambassador Sisulu. Now in its third draft, a handout on the plan available at the South African Embassy envisions a "continental approach" to the "eradication of infectious diseases including malaria, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis."
In a joint statement at the end of their meeting, the Presidents declared "support for the MAP's core goals of conflict resolution, good governance, sound economic management, and fighting HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases."
No clear signal was given as to whether the Bi-national Commission created during the Clinton Administration and chaired by the then-vice presidents of both countries will continue. Secretary of State Colin Powell has suggested that he does not want to continue it or any of the seven or eight similar commisions established between the United States and other nations during the Clinton Administration. In their statement Bush and Mbeki "reaffirmed that our governments will meet regularly to consult on bilateral, regional, and multilateral issues of shared importance."
While in Washington, Mbeki also met with Israeli prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
