DAR ES SALAAM, July 17 (AFP)- World Bank chief James Wolfensohn Wednesday urged Africans to increase efforts to restore peace and curb a further spread of HIV/AIDS in the continent, without which there could be progress.
"You cannot get anywhere in your economic recovery programmes without peace ... you also don't have a future unless you solve this terrible problem of HIV/AIDS," Wolfensohn told a news conference shortly before ending his three-day official visit to Tanzania.
The World Bank president said conflicts had made Africa, a continent endowed with abundant natural resources and a home to more than 700 million people, the poorest place on earth.
He stressed that the destiny of Africa depended on the will and determination of its leadership and people.
"The issue of peace is largely in the hands of Africans themselves," Wolfensohn said, adding: "Time is due to end years of death and misery."
On HIV/AIDS, Wolfensohn said the greatest concentration of cases were in Africa and the scourge was already reversing gains that have been achieved by economic reforms.
Wolfensohn arrived in Tanzania on Monday night, after a visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda.
While in Tanzania, he met finance ministers from nine African countries that have experienced conflicts.
On Tueday, Wolfensohn held a closed-door meeting with ministers from countries emerging from conflict -- Angola, Burundi, Congo-Brazzaville, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Uganda.
"It was a very fruitful encounter as each country presented its needs, particularly priorities in the reconstruction agenda ... the needs were apparently diverse," World Bank senior communication officer Erick Chinje told AFP.
Chinje said countries like Angola had a lot of damage inflicted on its infrastructure, social facilities and people by a civil war that lasted for almost 30 years.
"You find a situation where bridges in many parts of the country are blown up, in other places skilled people either killed during genocide or fled the country ... it is a cocktail of issues," Chinje said.
The World Bank also announced in statement released here Wednesday that Presidents Joseph Kabila of DRC and Paul Kagame of Rwanda had expressed their determination to Wolfensohn to restore peace and security in the Great Lakes region.
Before leaving, Wolfensohn attended the inaugural session of the Investors' Roundtable for Tanzania (IRT), an initiative supported by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which seeks to improve the investment climate here.
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