HIV/AIDS policy on peacekeepers “standard”

The Eritrean government asked the United Nations Security Council to be understanding over a request that all peacekeepers be tested for HIV/AIDS. In a letter to the Security Council, Eritrea’s Permanent Representative, Ahmed Tahir Baduri, said it was not a “discriminatory practice” targeted at the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE), but was “standard national practice that has been in effect since 1993.” The letter said routine testing of the Eritrean army was conducted as a matter of policy based on the recognition that the army was one of the most sexually active segments of the population. “Eritrea is at the moment engaged in a very rigorous national campaign to prevent the spread of AIDS,” Ahmed Baduri said in the letter, written on 20 January, and distributed on the internet this week. Eritrea had secured a soft loan of US $40 million to campaign against HIV/AIDS, he pointed out.