International AIDS Meeting Opens in Rwanda

By Cathy Majtenyi Kigali 16 June 2007

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An international AIDS conference started in Rwanda's capital Saturday, with officials vowing to work together to stop the spread of the scourge. Cathy Majtenyi reports for VOA from Kigali.

A baby sleeps in her mother's arms next to the anti-AIDS drug nevirapine

Speakers opening the HIV/AIDS Implementers' Meeting lauded what they said were great strides being made worldwide in the treatment and prevention of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Michel Sidibe, the deputy director of programs at UNAIDS, as the joint U.N. project on AIDS is called, told the gathering that more and more people in developing countries are getting access to AIDS drugs, and that in some cases infection rates are going down.

Michel Sidibe

"Well over 2 million people in the middle and low income countries are now on treatment. In several populations in East Africa, the Caribbean and Asia, HIV infection levels are falling - finally," said Sidibe.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame said that in 2001 his country had 15 voluntary counseling and testing centers. Now there are 256 centers, which have tested 2 million Rwandans.

He said that there are also 138 centers where people can get access to antiretroviral drug treatment, up from just four centers in 2001. Some 40,000 Rwandans are currently receiving antiretroviral treatment. President Kagame shared the credit for these advances.

Paul Kagame at VOA

"These results illustrate what can be achieved by well-coordinated partnerships," he said.

The conference is being sponsored by the World Bank, three U.N. agencies, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and the United States President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.

Following the conference theme, "Scaling Up Through Partnerships," more than 1,000 participants from around the globe are looking to find ways governments, business, the health care sector and others can collaborate.

U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Mark Dybul told the gathering that those involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS within specific countries and internationally are forming what he calls new partnerships in dealing with the AIDS crisis.

"We are rejecting the old and flawed donor-recipient approach and replacing it with partnership," he said. "Partnership is rooted in hope for, and faith in, people. Partnership means honest relationships between peoples based in mutual respect, understanding, and trust, with obligations and responsibilities for each partner."

He said these new relationships in part have resulted in enabling 2 million people in developing countries to receive antiretroviral drugs, which represents a 20-fold increase in 4 years.

The United States President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief is a five-year, $15 billion initiative to help countries treat and prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Bush Says He Will Veto 'Excessive Spending'

By Scott Stearns Whtie House 16 June 2007

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President Bush says opposition legislators want to raise taxes on Americans, undermining what he says is his pro-growth economic policy. Democrats say they want to help boost economic growth by lowering energy costs. VOA White House Correspondent Scott Stearns has the story.

President Bush speaks to the Associated Builders and Contractors meeting in Washington, 14 Jun 2007

President Bush says his record tax cuts have produced record tax revenues by putting more Americans to work and thereby reducing the nation's budget deficit. But in his weekly radio address, the president warned that proposed spending by opposition Democrats threatens his plans to balance the budget by 2012.

"The Democrats in Congress are trying to take us in a different direction," said Mr. Bush. "They've passed a budget that would mean higher taxes for American families and job creators, ignore the need for entitlement reform, and pile on hundreds of billions of dollars in new government spending over the next five years. This tax-and-spend approach puts our economic growth and deficit reduction at risk."

The president said he will veto excessive spending. The opposition-led House of Representatives Friday passed a $37 billion budget for the Department of Homeland Security, exceeding the president's request by more than $2 billion.

If President Bush carries out his threat to veto the measure, it is unlikely the Democrats would be able to get the two-thirds majority needed to override the veto, because enough Republicans voted against it to sustain the veto.

But Mr. Bush is not vetoing all spending that is above his budget. He accepted $17 billion more in the Iraq war funding bill than he requested. Democrats have added $4 billion to his request for veterans programs, and Republicans are not likely to support challenging that spending at a time of war.

In the Democratic radio address, Senator Maria Cantwell called on President Bush to lobby members of his own party to back an energy bill aimed at reducing America's dependence on foreign oil and lowering gas prices.

"By improving energy efficiency, our bill can save Americans billions of dollars every year," she said. "Democrats also plan to eliminate billions of dollars in tax breaks to big oil interests and invest them instead in clean, renewable energy. Combined with our goal to produce at least 15 percent of our energy from alternative sources, we can make huge strides in reducing our dependence on fossil fuel."

President Bush backs greater investments in alternative fuels and says he wants to cut U.S. petroleum use 20 percent in the next 10 years. America currently imports about 60 percent of its oil.

IOM Seeks $85 Million to Aid Iraq's Displaced

By Lisa Schlein Geneva 16 June 2007

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The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is appealing for $85 million to assist hundreds of thousands of internally displaced Iraqis. It warns large numbers of people will be forced to flee Iraq's borders, unless the international community provides the cash needed to care for Iraq's desperate homeless. Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from IOM headquarters in Geneva.

Iraqi children drink water from taps at a refugee camp for internally displaced people outside Najaf, Iraq, 16 June 2007

The International Organization for Migration says the suffering of more than 2 million internally displaced people is increasing every day. It says another 4 million Iraqis who have not yet fled their homes are experiencing desperate food shortages and also need urgent help.

IOM Spokesman Jean-Philippe Chauzy says money from the appeal will target the most vulnerable people. They include female-headed single households, the elderly, the young and the sick. He says these people are stuck inside Iraq. They have nowhere to go and have few means to survive.

"The situation inside Iraq is critical, because until now the displaced have been able to go to the governorates," he said. "They have been able to get some assistance, obviously, from some of the relatives in various parts of the country. But this displacement has reached such a level now that many governorates are closing their doors to the displaced."

Chauzy says those who have had to flee sectarian violence find themselves very isolated. He says they have little prospect of either returning home or going to neighboring countries.

About 2 million Iraqis have fled the country. Most of the refugees are in Syria and Jordan, both of whom are finding it difficult to cope with the overwhelming numbers.

The International Organization for Migration and its partners have been providing humanitarian assistance to internally displaced people in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, despite extremely difficult security conditions. The agency has assisted nearly 5 million people with food and non-food emergency provisions.

IOM Spokesman Chauzy says the $85 million appeal will cover a two-year period. He says money initially will be used to create, what is called, quick-impact community assistance programs in all parts of the country. He says these projects would include rehabilitation and construction of water supply, sanitation, health, and school facilities.

"It is also important to bear in mind, that unemployment in Iraq is rampant. Up to 60 percent. Competition for jobs is very, very high and those quick impact programs would hopefully create some form of employment inside Iraq and therefore alleviate some of the hardships that are linked to this displacement," he said. "The money would also be used critically to rebuild some of the shattered infrastructures."

Chauzy says shelter is a priority need. So the money would help rehabilitate public buildings, provide construction materials to the homeless to build or rehabilitate houses.

North Korea Invites UN Nuclear Inspectors

By Kurt Achin Seoul 16 June 2007

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With a protracted international banking dispute nearly resolved, North Korea is inviting international nuclear inspectors to visit the country. The move is widely viewed as a practical step toward implementing Pyongyang's promise to start dismantling its nuclear weapons programs. VOA's Kurt Achin reports from Seoul.

North Korea's Central News Agency reported Saturday that Pyongyang has sent a formal letter to the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency, inviting nuclear inspectors to make a visit to the country.

According to North Korean media, senior North Korean official Lee Je-sun wrote to the IAEA saying a working-level delegation of nuclear inspectors should visit, now that a banking dispute involving Macau's Banco Delta Asia is confirmed to have been resolved.

North Korea promised in February to shut down its main nuclear production facility by mid-April as a preliminary step toward full abandonment of nuclear weapons. Pyongyang missed that deadline, and said it would take no action until the Banco Delta Asia money had been transferred to its custody. A U.S. investigation had earlier led to the funds being frozen, and nearly all international banks have refused to handle transactions involving the funds.

Christopher Hill talking to reporters in Beijing, 30 May 2007

The senior U.S. delegate to North Korean nuclear negotiations, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, says about $20 million in North Korean funds has been transferred out of BDA to a bank in Russia. He says with the issue resolved, Washington now expects Pyongyang to honor its part of the February agreement. "We've worked very hard with some of our six-party partners, including the Russian Federation," said Hill. "So our hope is we can see some progress very, very, soon."

During a visit to Mongolia Saturday, Hill said six-party nuclear negotiations - which also include China, Japan, South Korea and Russia - could resume as early as July. Hill is expected to visit Beijing, Seoul, and Tokyo over the next week for talks aimed at getting the February agreement back on track.

South Korea's envoy to the nuclear talks, Chun Yung-woo, agrees it is time to move forward on ending the North's weapons programs. He says solving the BDA problem has removed the first obstacle to the February agreement. Now, he says, it is time to focus on fully implementing it.

Shutting down North Korea's main nuclear facility is only the first phase of the February agreement. The deal also provides for North Korea to make a full declaration of its nuclear capabilities, and work toward eventual diplomatic normalization with both the United States and Japan. North Korea is also due to receive huge amounts of energy and food aid, which its decrepit economy is unable to provide.

In a separate development, four North Koreans who arrived in Japan by boat on June 2 are now in South Korea, as they requested. The three men and one woman say they spent nearly a week at sea before arriving at a Japanese port.

More than 10,000 North Korean defectors live in South Korea, having fled economic shortage and political repression at home. Tens of thousands of others are believed to be in China, seeking an opportunity to travel to South Korea via a third country.