Annan equates AIDS fight with U.S. struggle for liberties

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (Reuters) -- U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan used the 225th birthday of the United States Wednesday to equate the global fight against AIDS with the struggle for liberties enshrined in the U.S. Declaration of Independence.

Annan, who received the Philadelphia Liberty Medal during a Fourth of July ceremony, said the world would face an unprecedented catastrophe unless nations moved quickly to thwart the AIDS pandemic that has already infected 36 million people and orphaned 30 million children.

MESSAGE BOARD AIDS prevention

"When U.N. medical experts strive to find new ways to prevent the spread of HIV-AIDS and treat its victims, from Africa to Asia, they are fighting for liberty," he told hundreds of onlookers outside Philadelphia's Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were adopted in the late 18th century.

"In effect, it's like a third world war if you consider the numbers of people who have been killed already by this epidemic," he later told reporters. "We have 30 million orphans already. How many more do we have to get, to wake up?"

Annan, 63, a soft-spoken straight-talker who was elected to a second term as head of the 189-member United Nations last month, has won accolades from envoys around the world by striving to set up a global fund to combat AIDS that would be able to funnel an additional $7 billion to $10 billion a year into the fight.

The fund seeks to raise resources not only from governments but from corporations, private foundations and individual donors.

He said a recent $200 million contribution from Japan has brought the fund to $900 million and expressed hopes that the U.S. Congress would provide another $750 million on top of a $200 million donation already made by the Bush administration.

Annan was awarded the Liberty Medal and its $100,000 cash prize for his work to promote political freedoms around the globe, including the "unalienable rights" to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness contained in the Declaration of Independence.

"I shall donate the prize money from the Liberty Medal to the fund," Annan said. "And it is my sincere hope that it will be followed by many more donations from governments, foundations and citizens."

He joins more than a dozen previous recipients that include former South African President F. W. de Klerk, Irish peace negotiator and former Sen. George Mitchell, and former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres and the late King Hussein of Jordan.

The award marks the anniversary of the first reading of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, which marked the beginning of the American Revolution against British rule.

Annan also called on the United States and other wealthy nations to make good a standing pledge to spend 0.7 percent of gross domestic product on development assistance to poor nations, saying the current average is only 0.2 percent.

He also called on wealthy countries to forgive the foreign debts of poor nations, saying some governments in the developing world are being forced to pay more in debt service than they spend on basic needs including education.

The Ghana-born U.N. chief is due to visit his native Africa Sunday to discuss the AIDS epidemic with leaders from the continent, which is home to 25 million people who live with HIV or AIDS.