HIV: a truly appalling weapon of war

[17 August 2009 - 14h44]
[mis à jour le 24 August 2009 à 18h06]

HIV – a truly appalling weapon of war

At certain times and in certain places, war can display a particularly hideous face.

Officially banned by international conventions, biological warfare is still being used in a truly appalling manner by armies who do not always merit the name. In Africa for example, HIV is still often used as a weapon of war! “Things are getting better now, Dr Tuna Lukiana (of the Avicenne Hospital, Bobigny, Paris) explained to us at the 5th International AIDS Society (IAS) Conference in Cape Town. But “in the Great Lakes region of the Congo, there are still unexpected occurrences.”

“Bacteriological warfare” is a highly ‘civilised’ tool. It was, in a sense, invented in 1763 by British troops under siege in Fort Pitt, Pennsylvania to Native Americans allied to the French. Blankets used by soldiers who had died from smallpox were “given” to their assailants and provoked a considerable epidemic. Methods have advanced enormously since then, to the extent that there is now a United Nations Convention prohibiting “the development, production, stockpiling and (naturally!) the use” of biological weapons.

But barbarity knows no limits… “Before the war, the prevalence of HIV infection in the Congo was no higher than 5% to 6%,” explained Dr Lukiana, “After a few years of war, however, it reached 15% in the east of the country.” At the root of this explosion is the use by neighbouring armies “of rape as a weapon of war. We were surrounded by countries such as Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda where infection ran at 25% on average. And most importantly their armies – comprising men 70% of whom were infected with HIV – used rape as a weapon of war. Girls were collectively raped, in front of their fathers and their husbands and afterwards they hid away and refused to allow themselves to be treated…

Unleashed in the name of “the uranium and diamonds found in the region, the Great Lakes War has now officially quietened down. But the situation remains worrying and many factions are looking for a pretext to relaunch hostilities. As for the civilian victims … they are still there … and still waiting for treatment.

Source : from our special correspondents at the 5th IAS Conference, Cape Town, 19-22 July 2009; interview with Dr Tuna Lukiana, 21 July 2009.

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