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Islam Reports 1998-2002 1 Gadhafi: 'Straights' don't get AIDS 7/03 2 Human Rights Watch concerned over charges of 12 opposition members in Libya 8/07 3 EU provides additional 2m euros to Benghazi HIV/AIDS plan 12/07 July 12, 2003 1 (AIDS has already killed more than 17 million in sub-Saharan Africa and is the leading cause of death among South African women.) by Elliott
Sylvester, Associated Press Writer Speaking through a translator, Gadhafi drew some laughter with his reference to AIDS only affecting homosexuals. He told the closing session of the eight-day annual African Union conference, "All you have to do is observe the rules. If you are straight, you have nothing to fear from AIDS." However, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says HIV can be spread by an infected person through heterosexual or homosexual sexual contact, the sharing of needles or syringes and, less commonly, through transfusions of blood or blood clotting factors. Also, babies born to HIV-infected women may become infected before or during birth, or through breast-feeding. Of the 42 million people worldwide infected with HIV, 29 million live in sub-Saharan Africa. AIDS has already killed more than 17 million in sub-Saharan Africa and is the leading cause of death among South African women. More than 11 million African children have lost at least one parent to the pandemic. The devastating AIDS pandemic was one of the major themes of President Bush's five-nation African trip. He has proposed spending $15 billion over five years to help the hardest-hit African and Caribbean nations battle the disease. Gadhafi added in his address to 40 African heads of state that they also should not "worry about tsetse flies and mosquitoes" - which carry malaria and sleeping sickness - saying they were "God's armies" protecting Africa from its enemies, apparently foreigners. "If they come here, they will get malaria and sleeping sickness," he said. Malaria kills 5 million Africans a year, while sleeping sickness - also known as African trypanosomiasis - kills more than 25,000 people a year.
August 15, 2007 2 In a press release on Tuesday (August 14th), Human Rights Watch called on the Libyan government to drop charges against 12 opposition members. Fourteen people were arrested by the authorities in February, after they decided to hold a peaceful demonstration in Tripoli to commemorate the first anniversary of a violent clash between demonstrators and police that killed at least 11 in Benghazi, the HRW statement said. Two of them disappeared while in custody and the other 12 face the death penalty if found guilty on charges of planning to overthrow the government, possession of arms, and meeting with an official from a foreign government. "For all its promises of better behaviour and improved ties with the world, Libya still imprisons those who express alternative political views," AP quoted Sarah Leah Whitson, director of the Human Rights Watch's Mideast and North Africa branch as saying.
17 December 2007 3 The European Commission (EC) decided to contribute an additional 2 million euros to the EU HIV-AIDS Action Plan for Benghazi, a press release said Friday (December 14th). The EC will also provide technical assistance to Libya's Benghazi Centre for Infectious Diseases and Immunology (BCIDI) to help it to reach international standards. During negotiations for the liberation of Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor who were held in Libya on charges of infecting Benghazi children with HIV, EU Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy Benita Ferrero-Waldner discussed plans for the facility, Ansa reported. "I promised that the European Union would ensure high quality treatment to the Benghazi children and that it would help Libya in taking appropriate measures in order to avoid similar tragedies from happening again", she said. The EU Action Plan for Benghazi was co-funded by the EC, EU member states and private donors and has been operational since 2005. It aims to help the country cope with its HIV-AIDS cases, which were first noted in Benghazi in 1998. |
