Former
South African President Nelson Mandela, in a veiled swipe at the
United States, called on donors on Thursday to join efforts to
pour billions of dollars into a global fund to fight AIDS.
Speaking at a major AIDS conference in Bangkok where Washington
has come under fire for its go-it-alone approach, Mandela said
donor nations must unite against the incurable disease that has
killed 20 million people and infected nearly twice that number.
The controversy erupted when U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan
said the Bush administration should inject $1 billion a year and
show the same commitment to fighting AIDS that it does in
combating terrorism. [more]