Pan-African effort appeal in war against continent's new 'slavery'Aids is Africa's new slavery and governments must rise and fight it as they did colonialism, the World Council of Churches secretary-general-elect, the Rev Dr Samuel Kobia said yesterday. Dr Kobia called for a Pan-African spirit in the anti-Aids fight and sent a strong message to governments to show more political will to combat it. "Not since the trans-Atlantic slave trade have Africans suffered the way they are doing now. HIV/Aids is a plague of biblical proportions," said Dr Kobia. He talked of the decolonisation dream envisaged by early African nationalists and which brought down apartheid in South Africa as examples that visions by mankind could become realities. "In African societies, the nation is sick when an individual is unwell. What we need now is a social-cultural revolution in the way we live," said Dr Kobia in a special message to the Church and governments at the All Africa Conference of Churches headquarters in Nairobi. Dr Kobia said churches must join hands with governments in fighting the disease, because Aids is not only a health but also a social issue. He called for equal access to drugs, resources and other opportunities to assist societies living with Aids. He said thousands of children affected by HIV/Aids and poverty were living in misery as they suffer severe malnutrition, adding that the situation could never be resolved without a strong will to do so. Hunger had become a way of life in Africa, making it the only continent unable to feed its people, he said. "I am challenging Africans that this is a must-win situation," he said. The World Conference of Churches, he said, was committed to combat the disease through its Ecumenical Response to HIV/Aids in Africa programme. He said the anti-Aids campaign was focused mainly on Africa because it had the highest number of people infected by the disease. Dr Kobia said while religion has in some instances been used to propagate violence, it "must now be used to reconcile, to bring healing." |
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