- Title: SOUTH AFRICA: U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE VISITS HIV/AIDS PATIENTS
- Date: 26th May 2001
- Summary: (U4) SOWETO, SOUTH AFRICA (MAY 25, 2001) (REUTERS) 1. MV WOMEN DANCING/SINGING 0.08 2. MV US SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN POWELL ARRIVING; MV POWELL ENTERING CLINIC; MV POWELL LEAVING CLINIC (8 SHOTS) 1.12 3. SCU POWELL POSING FOR PHOTOGRAPHS WITH TWO CHILDREN 1.19 (W6) SOWETO, SOUTH AFRICA (MAY 25, 2001)(REUTERS) 4. SLV POWELL CONVOY ENTERING SOWETO 1.25 5. MV POWELL GETTING OUT OF VEHICLE AND GREETING OFFICIALS 1.32 6. MV STUDENTS WITH COMPUTERS INSIDE CLASSROOM; POWELL INTERACTING WITH STUDENTS (6 SHOTS) 1.58 7. SLV SECURITY; MV POWELL TALKING TO LOCAL PETROL STATION MANAGEMENT; MV POLICE PRESENCE AT PETROL STATION (4 SHOTS) 2.14 (W6) WITWATERSRAND UNIVERSITY, JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA (MAY 25, 2001) (REUTERS) 8. MV PROTESTERS OUTSIDE WITWATERSRAND UNIVERSITY; ARAB WOMEN CHANTING 'ALLAH U AKBAR'; MV PROTESTER WITH ANTI-POWELL POSTER (3 SHOTS) 2.31 9. SCU SECURITY 2.34 10. SLV POWELL ENTERING HALL AND GREETED TO STANDING OVATION; OFFICIALS ON PODIUM; POWELL ON PODIUM (3 SHOTS) 2.47 11. (SOUNDBITE) (English) POWELL, SAYING "There are however many who seem reluctant to submit to the law and the will of the people. After more than 20-years in office, Zimbabwe President, Robert Mugabe seems determined to remain in power. But you know it's the citizens of Zimbabwe to choose their leader in a free and fair election and they should be given one so they could make their choice as to how they will be governed in the future." 3.16 12. SLV AUDIENCE APPLAUDING 3.22 13. (SOUNDBITE) (English) POWELL, SAYING "The AIDS crisis is not just a health crisis across this continent. It is an economic crisis, a social crisis for democracy, a threat to stability, a threat to the very future of Africa, because it is decimating the very people who must build a more prosperous democratic peaceful future that I've been speaking about. More than 25 million Africans infected with HIV AIDS, over 17 million deaths last year alone. There were over four million new cases and two-and-a-half million deaths. In seven countries here in Southern Africa, the adult infection rate exceeds twenty-percent." 4.01 14. SCU AUDIENCE LISTENING; NOTES BEING TAKEN (2 SHOTS) 4.10 15. (SOUNDBITE) (English) POWELL, SAYING "America will be a friend to all Africans who seek peace, but we cannot make peace among Africans. Peace is not a foreign export, nor can it be seen as a foreign import. Africans themselves must bear the lion's share of the responsibility of bringing stability to the continent." 4.37 16. WIDE OF ROOM 4.48 17. SLV SECRET SERVICE SECURITY OUTSIDE HALL/ VARIOUS OF MOTORCADE TAKING OFF AND AFTERMATH OF SOUTH AFRICAN POLICEMAN BUMPED AND BRUSHED OVER BY VEHICLE (2 SHOTS) 5.11 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 10th June 2001 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: SOWETO AND JOHANNESBURG SOUTH AFRICA
- Country: South Africa
- Reuters ID: LVA68A09UWJALTAUS1JN6YKR0QAV
- Story Text: On a tour of Africa Colin Powell, the first
African-American U.S. Secretary of State, visited HIV/AIDS
patients in the sprawling township of Soweto outside
Johannesburg.
Later, in a speech Powell accused Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe
of clinging to power and called for free and fair elections in
the crisis-hit southern African country.
Visiting South Africa on the second stop of a
four-nation trip on Friday (May 25), U.S. Secretary of State
Colin Powell discussed regional conflicts with Foreign
Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma and criticised Zimbabwe's
President Robert Mugabe.
Powell went on to visit HIV/AIDS patients in the
sprawling township of Soweto outside Johannesburg, where HIV
positive women told him their stories.
AIDS and regional conflicts are the two main themes of
Powell's tour, which started in Mali on Wednesday and
continues on to Kenya and Uganda in East Africa.
South Africa has more than four million HIV positive
people, more than any other country in the world. Among
adults, the infection rate is about 20 percent, expected to
rise to 25 percent unless there are big changes in individual
behaviour.
South Africa's population is just over 40 million.
Powell said he would urge Congress to do more to fund the
fight against HIV/AIDS in Africa, the world's poorest
continent.
Later In an African policy speech in Johannesburg, Powell
drew a harsh contrast between leaders on the continent who had
left office democratically, and the 77-year-old Mugabe.
"After more than 20 years in office, Zimbabwean President
Robert Mugabe seems determined to remain in power," he said.
"Now it is for the citizens of Zimbabwe to choose their
leader in a free and fair election and they should be given
the opportunity," Powell said.
Mugabe has said he will run again in presidential
elections expected next year, in which he faces a stiff
challenge from opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. Mugabe's
ZANU-PF party just won parliamentary elections last year
marred by violence that killed at least 31 people, mainly
opposition supporters.
On the second stop of a four-nation tour of Africa, Powell
called earlier on Friday for action to stop Zimbabwe's
political and economic crisis spilling into neighbouring South
Africa.
In a crisis that has led to several deaths and paralysed
the economy, Mugabe has targeted more than 3,000 white-owned
farms as part of his plan to redistribute land he says was
stolen by British settlers and colonialists more than a
century ago.
Land seizures have been accompanied by killings of white
farmers and opposition supporters, widespread violence and a
drop in output at many major commercial farms since last year.
South African President Thabo Mbeki has been widely criticised
for not speaking out loudly against Mugabe's actions.
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