"Uganda is taken as a model case in fighting AIDS, but the U.S. is pushing pharmaceutical companies to make profits here," said Douglas Kivumbi, drinking bottles of beer with friends at a bar in the capital Kampala.
"This is our lives we're talking about, it's not profit."
RIGHT ON!!! Brother Kivumbi!
Matek
Bush seen talking AIDS, "war on terror" in Uganda
By Matthew Green
ENTEBBE, Uganda, July 11 (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush flies to Uganda on Friday hoping to polish his anti- AIDS credentials in a country hailed as an African pioneer in fighting the epidemic.
Bush's "war on terror" is also expected to figure at his talks with the leader of the east African country, which borders war-torn Sudan, and Kenya, scene of two al Qaeda attacks in the past five years.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni is hoping the visit may restore some of the lustre he has lost on the international stage, due partly to flawed elections in 2001 and Uganda's involvement in conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
As workmen in blue overalls hastily resurfaced a road to a hotel overlooking Lake Victoria where the two presidents will meet, activists said they wanted signs from Bush that his $15 billion plan to tackle AIDS meant business.
"People are dying in thousands," said Rosette Mutambi, coordinator of the Uganda Access Coalition, campaigning for cheaper drugs for an estimated 1.5 million Ugandans with HIV.
"I wouldn't want to think that he can go against what he has committed himself to do," she told Reuters.
In keeping with the frenetic pace of his five-nation Africa trip, Bush will stray barely a few kilometres (miles) from the airport at Entebbe when he visits Uganda for just over four hours, taking in an AIDS organisation in a 15-minute tour.
In contrast to the previous stop on Bush's trip, Botswana, which has the highest rate of HIV infection in the world, Uganda has reduced infection rates from about 30 percent in 1992 to six percent in 2000, according to government figures.
Uganda's apparent success in fighting AIDS, questioned by some health experts, has helped legitimise Museveni, who shot his way to power in 1986 but has since twice won reelection.
Bush has praised the leadership of the former guerrilla in fighting a war on the epidemic, though many in Uganda share the suspicion felt by some other Africans of Bush's tour of Senegal, South Africa, Botswana, Uganda and Nigera.
"Uganda is taken as a model case in fighting AIDS, but the U.S. is pushing pharmaceutical companies to make profits here," said Douglas Kivumbi, drinking bottles of beer with friends at a bar in the capital Kampala.
"This is our lives we're talking about, it's not profit."
Uganda is one of five states picked by Washington for a $100 million scheme to help governments in the region tighten security, with its eastern neighbour Kenya also due for funds.
Police have refused permission for the opposition to mount a demonstration during the visit, condemning what they say is a "dictatorship" under Museveni, who some fear will attempt to extend his term beyond a 2006 limit set by the constitution.
Bush may also discuss the war in neighbouring Congo when he meets Museveni, whose government stands accused by U.N. experts of formenting chaos in Congo's Ituri region to mask the illegal plunder of minerals.
07/10/03 21:18 ET
