Opposition criticises government AIDS programme

Opposition political parties have strongly criticised the government's HIV/AIDS programme labelling it ineffective and calling on the government to declare a state of emergency as the only way to combat the spread of the disease, media sources reported from Ethiopia on Tuesday. Ethiopia is one of the African country's worst hit by the epidemic with an estimated three million Ethiopians infected with the HIV virus which causes AIDS. Addressing a press conference, leaders of the All Amhara People's Organisation (AAPO), The Council of Alternative Forces for Peace and Democracy in Ethiopia (CAFPDE) and the Oromo National Congress (ONC) said that measures currently implemented by the government to curb high infection rates were not working. "The government has to declare a state of emergency ... to arrest the alarming spread of the killer disease ravaging the country," Reuters reported CAFPDE President Beyene Petros as saying. Foremost among the opposition groups criticism was what they called the government's failure to introduce anti-retroviral therapy.