Washington File - March 4, 2004
Jim Fisher-Thompson, Washington File Staff Writer

Fulford said HIV infection rates in Africa were still largely unknown "because the level of research and testing was not what it ought to be...but what I do know for certain is that it is a big number. And that big number is going to have an impact on the institutions that are critical to the survival of emerging democracies that don't need another kick to the stomach."

The retired officer made his comments at a February 11 seminar:

"Addressing the HIV/AIDS Threat in Militaries and Peacekeeping Missions" at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). The International Crisis Group (ICG) and the Chemical and Biological Arms Control Institute co-sponsored the event.

"Several years ago, I visited a country [in Africa] that had two air force squadrons," Fulford said. "They tested one squadron and 85 per cent of its personnel were HIV positive. So they stopped testing because they didn't want to know what the other squadron would look like. If the pandemic plays out there, the impact and challenges to that nation's security are going to be huge."

Also, with "the capacity of peacekeepers around the world, particularly in Africa, strained as it is," the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa "must seriously be explored from the security perspective not only for the [African] nations involved" -- both protectors and protected -- but for other nations as well, he told the CSIS audience.

Fulford, who now heads up the African Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS) in Washington, spent a good portion of his time as deputy of EUCOM traveling from his headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany to the many northern and sub-Saharan African nations that fall under the EUCOM shield. Horn of Africa nations come under the purview of the U.S. military's Central Command (CENTCOM), headquartered in the United States.

The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) has spent approximately $35 million over the last four years to help African nations reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS in their populations, including the military. In 2003, DOD allocated $13 million for global AIDS prevention and research programs, the majority of which went to Africa.

According to a document released by Stephen Morrison, who oversees the CSIS Task Force on AIDS, many regions of the world, including Africa, "face grave national stability issues" because of the disease. "Large numbers of soldiers, specifically young men between the ages 15 and 24 have contracted the disease. In some cases, the virus has depleted entire units and has spread to the civilian population."

Furthermore, "senior commanders in several African countries have admitted that the disease prevents well-trained units from being immediately available for mobilization," the CSIS document concluded.

On the issue of AIDS and its spread among U.N. peacekeepers, Healthlink Worldwide's 2002 Combat AIDS report found that "after three years as much as 15% of Nigerian peacekeeping forces abroad were infected with HIV."

The U.N., under whose blue flag many of the peacekeepers in Africa operate, has its hands tied when it comes to the disease. According to its policy, the U.N. cannot insist but only recommend that soldiers be tested for HIV/AIDS before they are deployed in its peacekeeping missions, according to the U.N. document: "IV Testing Policy For Uniformed Peacekeepers."

It does, however, provide each of its approximately 46,000 current peacekeepers, most of them serving in Africa, with a plastic "HIV/AIDS Awareness Card For Peacekeeping Operations" that includes a small pocket to hold a single condom -- one of the five per week provided to each peacekeeper during deployment with the U.N.

African leaders have become concerned about peacekeepers spreading the infection, according to Fulford, who told the CSIS audience: "In some countries in Africa we have good [HIV/AIDS] testing, good treatment...In other countries we have refusal to test [and] refusal, even if they do test, to tell the participant the results of the test."

In consequence, he related, "I had a leader of a country in Africa tell me that he would rather deal with the insurgents than deal with peacekeepers that brought HIV into his country. And that expresses a great part of the problem and difficulty that we [militaries] are challenged with now."

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