Wall Street Journal - May 25, 2001
Michael M. Phillips, Staff Reporter

PRETORIA, South Africa -- The Bush administration is calling on African leaders from both podium and pulpit to take personal responsibility for stemming the spread of AIDS.

As Secretary of State Colin Powell arrived here Thursday, top administration officials suggested that South African President Thabo Mbeki and other African leaders have sometimes shirked their duty to promote safer sex.

"What would make a difference is any head of state -- not just President Mbeki -- publicly saying that we have a crisis, that we need people to change their behavior," said Andrew Natsios, head of the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Mr. Natsios, who also is accompanying Mr. Powell to Mali, Kenya and Uganda this week, announced an administration plan to persuade Christian and Muslim clergy across the continent to preach abstinence and monogamy to control HIV. "Condoms don't always work -- the best thing to do is behave yourself," he said en route to South Africa. Once started, the program would provide educational literature for distribution at religious services and would supplement existing U.S.-funded prevention programs emphasizing use of condoms, he said.

The secretary's visit, however, came amid signs that President Bush has decided to name an opponent of condom use to head the State Department bureau that deals with refugee and population issues. The New York Times previously reported that Mr. Bush had overruled Mr. Powell in choosing Vatican adviser John M. Klink, a former Catholic Relief Services official, for the position. While declining to confirm the story or discuss Mr. Klink's views of condom use, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Secretary Powell considers Mr. Klink "excellently qualified."

As Mr. Natsios called for stronger statements from African leaders, in public Mr. Powell strongly endorsed Mr. Mbeki's action against AIDS. "The president is fully seized with the problem and is doing everything possible to reduce the HIV/AIDS rates," Mr. Powell said.

But the Bush administration's private message to many African leaders was one of disappointment, even though U.S. officials say that leaders of Senegal, Malawi and Uganda have helped slow the epidemic through aggressive campaigns.

The administration's strongly worded advice to African leaders touches a nerve in South Africa. Mr. Mbeki has promoted the theory that HIV might not be responsible for AIDS, a view that amounts to heresy among most health experts. South Africa has 3.6 million people carrying the virus, one-tenth of the world-wide total.

Write to Michael M. Phillips at michael.phillips@wsj.com

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