Colin Powell Announces U.S. Relief to Sudan
BRIAN NELSON, CNN ANCHOR: Thousands of miles from Washington, the secretary of state, Colin Powell, was wrapping up his tour of Africa. Yesterday, Mr. Powell announced the U.S. plans to ship aid to Sudan's government for the first time in more than 10 years. The move comes as Powell also pledged extra funds to fight AIDS. And CNN's David Ensor has more on this report from Kampala.</s>DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As Secretary of State Powell arrived in Uganda, U.S. officials had just announced an emergency supply of food for northern Sudan: 40,000 tons, including some on a ship on the high seas which may get there within two weeks.</s>COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: It is a very desperate situation in the North. And we don't use food aid as a political weapon, so there is not a political connection to the food aid.</s>ENSOR: Drought in Sudan threatens famine. But it has been over a decade since the U.S. aided the pro-government North in Sudan, which Washington accuses of harboring terrorists and bombing hospitals in the rebellious South. (on camera): Powell came to Uganda, to the shores of Lake Victoria, where the first cases were recorded in the HIV/AIDS pandemic, to announce $50 million additional U.S. dollars to help in the fight against AIDS, and to gather evidence, he said, to help him convince Washington that much more will be needed.</s>AGNES NYAMAYARWE, HIV POSITIVE MOTHER: Instead of giving my children life, I gave my children HIV. Up to today, I live with this guilt of knowing that I infected my own child.</s>ENSOR: When he spoke, Powell offered his reasoning for spending so much time on AIDS, even when conflicts are raging in the Middle East and elsewhere.</s>POWELL: And there is no war on the face of the Earth right now that is more serious, that is more grave than the war we see here in sub-Saharan Africa against</s>HIV/AIDS. ENSOR: And it seemed that the secretary and Africans who will die of AIDS each gave each other some hope. David Ensor, CNN, Kampala.