Lesotho King Letsie III told Southern African leaders in Maseru on Friday that the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Summit on HIV/Aids was taking place at a time when sub-Saharan Africa, particularly Southern Africa, was threatened by the ”menacing dark clouds of the killer disease”.
King Letsie was opening the summit attended by cabinet ministers, members of the diplomatic corps and representatives of international agencies in Lesotho.
He said HIV/Aids had already ”undone some of the past socio-economic achievements made by the countries of the region, but the disease now threatens to wipe out these achievements”.
The king said the SADC leaders had gathered in Lesotho as they realised that the devastating nature of the HIV pandemic required urgent collective action on their part.
He said as leaders of the Southern African region they were duty-bound to formulate a multi-faceted response to the challenges posed by HIV.
Their response should include intensification of prevention and education programmes.
Only three heads of state attended the summit which ended on Friday.
They were Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, Botswana President Festus Mogae and Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe.
South Africa was represented by Deputy President Jacob Zuma.
The SADC later reaffirmed its commitment to combating the HIV/Aids pandemic in all its forms as a matter of urgency.
The Maseru Declaration on the fight against HIV/Aids in the SADC region said SADC planned to implement priority areas in its fight against the pandemic.
This would be done through ”multi-sectoral strategic interventions as contained in the new SADC HIV/Aids strategic framework action 2003-2007”.
The declaration also identified a number of priority areas which included access to care testing and treatment, prevention and social mobilisation to fight the scourge.
– Sapa