HARARE, June 17 (AFP) - Zambia's former president Kenneth Kaunda, whose son died of AIDS in 1986, on Thursday told Zimbabweans to put aside political differences in the fight against the pandemic.
"This thing (AIDS) does not know politics at all, this thing does not even know religion," Kaunda told delegates to Zimbabwe's first AIDS conference.
"Why are we allowing political divisions, why are we allowing poverty, why are we allowing ethnicity, why are we allowing even religion to stop us from fighting together, as we fought against slavery, as we fought against colonialism?" asked Kaunda.
The conference is being attended by a cross-section of people from government officials, ruling and opposition party lawmakers, civic groups, non-governmental organisations, the medical profession and grassroots organisations.
"I am not saying forget your politics, I am not saying forget your religion ...(but) let us come together, let us fight together and destroy this thing before it destroys us," said Kaunda to an audience of more than 700 delegates that included President Robert Mugabe.
"If you don't, your little room for politics will go, your little room for religion will go, you will be six feet down," he warned.
Kaunda referred to the conference as a "re-birth of Zimbabwe".
"After so many years of struggle, hatred, curses, insults across the board, now you can see the real situation in Zimbabwe that calls for all of us to come together and fight again. How wonderful," said Kaunda.
Addressing the same conference, Mugabe admitted on Wednesday that "HIV and AIDS is one of the greatest challenges facing our nation".
"However, it is not an insurmountable challenge. We can and we should rise above this challenge, and win the fight," he said.
Kaunda called on all those present at the conference to take HIV tests.
"Testing is very important. We must know what our status is," he said.
He also called on delegates to make the youth aware of the risks of HIV and AIDS.
"If you don't take care of those people, you don't teach them to behave themselves... There will be nobody to help us become heavy masters, nobody to help us become ministers, nobody to help us make leaders of the oposition," he warned.
Zimbabwe is one of the countries worst hit by HIV/AIDS in the world, with about a quarter of the population infected, and up to 4,000 people dying per week from HIV-AIDS induced illnesses.
Speaking earlier, the head of HIV and Tuberculosis programmes in the ministry of health, Owen Mugurungi, said an estimated 202,000 new HIV infections occured last year while about 171,000 people die every year out of a population of around 12-and-a-half-million.
More than 300 non-governmental organisations are involved in anti-AIDS programmes in Zimbabwe.
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