Speeches of Former Amb. Chaveas

Amb's HIV/AIDS SHARP speech

DECEMBER 10, 2002

Freetown, Sierra Leone

REMARKS BY AMBASSADOR PETER R. CHAVEAS AT THE LAUNCHING OF THE SIERRA LEONE HIV/AIDS RESPONSE PROJECT (SHARP)

I am honored by this opportunity to speak briefly on an occasion which I believe is of singular importance to the future of Sierra Leone. As you know Mr. President, from the very first conversation we had after my arrival in Sierra Leone more than a year ago, I strongly believe that HIV/AIDS poses a great threat to Sierra Leone and to all that you and your fellow citizens and all the international friends of Sierra Leone have accomplished to restore peace to this beautiful land.  My conviction is born of the experience of a decade of work in Southern Africa where the devastation caused by HIV/AIDS rivals that which was wrought by more than a decade of war in Sierra Leone.  As Ambassador to Malawi, I witnessed the cruelty visited upon the people of that country by their own political leadership who, until 1994, refused to acknowledge the existence of the problem. As a result, it was addressed much too late and Malawians are paying, and for many generations will pay, a terrible price.

None of us want to see Sierra Leone, which has already suffered so much from decades of bad governance, corruption and violence, move from the hope inspired by the new peace to a new form of suffering. Sierra Leone wants economic growth, not more orphans. Sierra Leone needs time to reunite families and rebuild communities, not more widows. Sierra Leone needs the restoration of the outstanding educational system for which it was once so well known, not endless funerals of valued teachers and their best students struck down in the prime of their productive lives. 

Fortunately, we are gathered here today Mr. President because you and others in your Government and in the wider community recognize this threat and have a vision for attacking it. I believe that when we all have the opportunity to look back objectively on 2002 and consider the most important events of the year, three will stand out from all the rest. The first, of course, will be January 18 when you were able to tell Sierra Leone and the world that “di wor don don.” Just as evident is the importance of May 14 when Sierra Leoneans by the thousands went peacefully to the polls in the first multi-party elections over the entirety of their territory in far too many years.  The third is this event today.  I hope that in time we will look back on the launching of the SHARP program as the moment when Sierra Leoneans said firmly NO, we will not let this tragedy be visited upon us or upon our children. We will take responsibility for our futures. We will care for those who are already afflicted and we will assure that those who are not will be armed with the knowledge that is their greatest protection. We will recognize that HIV/AIDS poses a threat to our national security and address it with all the vigor and tenacity that such a threat deserves.

In closing Mr. President, I hope you will forgive me if I share a bit of a recent private conversation we had at the Lodge. During that conversation, you discussed the role of leadership in effectively addressing this issue. You mentioned that another African head of state is having a great impact upon the crisis in his country in part by virtue of the fact that he never gives a speech without mentioning HIV/AIDS. You spoke forcefully to this subject on World AIDS Day. Your role in launching SHARP today sends a clear signal of your intention to provide bold national leadership in the face of this threat to your country.  To be fully effective, leadership must come from every level and sector of society but there is no substitute for leadership from the highest level. I congratulate you Mr. President for providing the kind of example that is needed. May your efforts be blessed with the same success that you have realized in your efforts to restore peace to the people of Sierra Leone.