But who will speak up for Africa?

Today UN Secretary-General announced today that world governments need to take a more proactive role in the fight against AIDS, especially in Africa. Although AIDS prevention is one of the eight UN Millennium Development Goals, Mr Annan stated that better leadership and funding is needed to reach the target date of 2015 to stop the spread of the disease. "Last year saw more new infections and Aids-related deaths than ever before," Mr Annan told a conference in New York.

Only 12% of people with AIDS in underdeveloped countries are getting anti-retroviral drugs, he added.

The UK Chancellor Gordon Brown has proposed an ambitious plan to tackle poverty in Africa by giving the continent %100 debt relief as well as an end to many trade subsidies. This plan in turn would help funnel monies that would have gone to loan repayments to funding the fight against the disease and poverty.

But this plan is facing fierce opposition from President Bush, who will possibly clash with Tony Blair on this issue next week as they meet in Washington. The US has stated that the proposed debt relief plan should be financed partially by selling gold reserves held by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), although the US along with other Western powers weren't very supportive of selling IMF gold in the first place. The US has also pledged to increase development aid through its own Milliennium Challenge Account, however, a small amount of the money has actually been used so far.

Critics say that the war in Iraq has totally pushed Africa off the agenda, especially in the US. "Africa has not really had much of a constituency in the US," said Marina Ottoway, a senior associate at Carnegie Endowment in Washington, to the BBC.

However, there are reports today that the UK is still going to press on with their plan, despite US disapproval. Coincidentally, Ms Ottoway explains that because World Bank and IMF are multilateral, and, thus, require approval from the US. The European Union with similar structures is highly unlikely to drop trade taxes unless the US does the same.

Nonetheless, Gordon Brown states that the West has to take action now against AIDS and poverty before it is too late.

"This is not a time for timidity nor a time to fear reaching too high," said Brown.