Mandela calls on all people to join in the war against HIV

IT will take greater unity and effort to conquer HIV than it took to tear down apartheid, former South African president Nelson Mandela told a host of music celebrities yesterday, gathered in Cape Town for an AIDS benefit concert named in his honour.

“We are called to join the war against HIV/AIDS with the same and even greater resolve than was shown in the fight against apartheid,” Mandela said as he gave Annie Lennox, Bono and other artists a tour of Robben Island, where he spent 18 of his 27 years in jail under the racist regime.

“We have to mobilise all our people, all sectors of society, all our resources and energy.”

The musicians are in Cape Town to support the 46664, Give One Minute of Your Life to AIDS appeal. They are performing free of charge tomorrow at Cape Town’s Greenpoint Stadium.

The appeal, which uses Mandela’s former prison number, urges people in 17 countries to call a premium-rate line to hear a celebrity message and songs recorded by top artists that have not yet been released.

Callers are logged as having given their support to a petition calling on governments to declare a global AIDS emergency, and a portion of the cost of the phone call goes to the charity.

Between 34 million and 46 million people around the world are infected with HIV, according to UN figures. The pandemic killed more than three million people this year and some 5.3 million South Africans are HIV-positive, more than in any other country.

Mandela, dressed in a silver and blue shirt, called participating artists the “ambassadors of the new hope of the 21st century”.

The Corrs, Beyonce Knowles, Peter Gabriel, Anastacia, Angelique Kidjo, and Brian May were among the artists wandering through the prison yard-turned-museum, where images of Mandela’s younger self adorn cracked grey walls. Mandela showed them his old prison cell.

“I’m speechless,” said Annie Lennox, who wore a T-shirt reading “17 million AIDS dead”.

“I saw a vision of hell where Mr Mandela and his fellow inmates were kept. To sacrifice his life and still come out to fight AIDS, it’s incredible,” she said.

The 46664 campaign, conceived by Dave Stewart, was put into place in partnership with the Nelson Mandela Foundation, as well as Brian May and Roger Taylor of Queen.

Proceeds from the concert will go to the foundation, whose work includes funding research on HIV and AIDS in South Africa and supporting services for sufferers.

A UN report recently revealed that 2.5 million children are infected with HIV/AIDS.