Ex-Zambian president addresses war on Iraq, AIDS

Former Zambian President Dr. Kenneth Kaunda spoke about the ongoing war in Iraq and the AIDS crisis in Africa Wednesday evening. Speaking in the Crane Room of Paige Hall, Kaunda expressed his dissatisfaction with the American war in Iraq and with the little attention and effort devoted to AIDS by most of the world.

By invading Iraq, Kaunda said, the United States ignored the possibility of a peaceful approach to the problem. "It is not 'shock and awe' but 'hope and help' that shall make the difference" for the Iraqi people, he said.

Kaunda, the first president of Zambia, stressed the similarities between all nations and peoples. "Love thy neighbor as thyself," he said.

US diplomatic blunders have alienated once strong allies and jeopardized the legitimacy of the United Nations, Kaunda said. "War is an evil... not only an absolute answer."

Both the build-up to war and the initial stages of the war itself have had a dramatic effect on Americans, Kaunda said. Many Americans have undergone a soul-searching process and questioned their initial views of the war. The ways in which Americans are viewed abroad has also been altered, according to Kaunda.

Kaunda expressed delight at the anti-war demonstrations in the US and Great Britain, some of which he participated in. Anti-war activists should not blame the people of the US and Britain for their governments' policies, but rather place the blame where it is deserved -- on President Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair, he said.

He also addressed the AIDS epidemic in Africa, using his son's death from AIDS as an example of the tragedy of the disease. In order to educate people about protection, they must first accept the sickness, Kaunda said.

Kaunda talked about how the South African government was willing to blame anything for the disease, pneumonia, a cold, anything but AIDS so that they would not have to bear the cost burden.

AIDS has ravaged most of Africa, already killing 17 million people, with another estimated 25 million infected.

As a means of putting the crisis into students' hands, Kaunda suggested organizing on-campus protests and volunteering in Africa.

The future of US diplomacy, Kaunda said, will depend on the determination of the leadership. "We need leadership with hope, patience, and a passion for peace -- peace being not only the absence of war, but the battling of afflictions like HIV/AIDS in our world... our one shared world," he said.

Kaunda was imprisoned by the Rhodesian government and his party was banned in 1959, but in 1960 he was released and became head of the new United National Independence party. In 1962, he rejected a constitution proposed by Great Britain for Northern Rhodesia, charging that it would perpetuate white supremacy.

Nevertheless, he took part in elections that October, and after winning a parliamentary seat, formed a coalition government. In 1964, Zambia became independent with Kaunda as president.

Faced with increasing ethnic dissension, Kaunda established a one-party state in 1972.

In foreign affairs, Kaunda played a central role in opposing white-supremacist governments in Rhodesia, South Africa, and South-West Africa (now Namibia), despite the attacks and hardships these policies caused Zambia.

Elected to his fifth consecutive term in 1988, Kaunda was forced to restore a multiparty system in 1990. He was overwhelmed in a 1991 election by Frederick Chiluba.

Kaunda has written several books, including Black Government (with C. M. Morris, 1960) and the autobiographical Zambia Shall Be Free (1962).