Clinton, in South Africa, says anti-HIV efforts have saved ‘hundreds of thousands’
In South Africa, 5.7 million people — 17.8 percent of the population — have tested positive for HIV. PEPFAR, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, has spent $3.2 billion on anti-retroviral drugs and HIV prevention programs in South Africa since 2004. The program was initiated by President George W. Bush and has been continued by President Barack Obama’s administration.
On Wednesday in Cape Town, Clinton will preside at a ceremony at which the U.S. will begin shifting administrative control of the AIDS initiative and treatment implementation to the South Africans. The handover will take five years.
Clinton played down U.S. concerns over South Africa’s reluctance to support western-backed initiatives at the United Nations, where South Africa is wrapping up a two-year elected term on the Security Council. South Africa abstained on the last Security Council resolution on Syria, which would have called for sanctions for non-compliance with Kofi Annan’s peace plan. The resolution failed on a double veto by Russia and China.
“As crisis and opportunities arise there are tough issues that we have to tackle together,” Clinton said. “We do not always see eye-to-eye on these issues. … Sometimes we will disagree, as friends do.”
Clinton and Nkoana-Mashabane pledged to intensify cooperation in dealing with crises in African hotspots, such as in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia.
“We believe as partners on the continent we can do more about stability and the way we are going to foster economic growth and security,” Nkoana-Mashabane said.
Later, at a U.S.-South Africa business summit, Clinton hailed the growing trade ties between the two countries. She noted that two-way trade had shot up 21 percent to almost $22 billion from 2010 to 2011.
Nearly 98 percent of South Africa’s exports to the U.S. enter the country duty-free under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, which
Category: Africa News
