OREM — The Ethiopian government needs the international community's help in the fight against HIV and AIDS, the country's ambassador to the United States says.
While the government tries to educate Ethiopian citizens about the disease, the international community can help by providing medicine and testing kits to physicians, said Kassahun Ayele, who visited Utah Valley State College on Wednesday.
In urban areas, 12 percent of Ethiopian adults have HIV or AIDS. In rural areas where 85 percent of the population lives, the infection rate is lower. But it is harder to reach people in rural areas, Ayele said.
HIV and AIDS are connected to poverty, Ayele said.
"My government has made it clear that the No. 1 enemy and threat to our country is poverty," he said.
Ethiopia — a nation of 77 million people in the Horn of Africa — has been trying to return to democracy since 1991, when a civil war caused the overthrow of the Marxist Derg regime that ruled for 17 years, Ayele said.
There have been three elections since then that have been mostly fair and competitive, Ayele said.
But the most recent election in May has caused "illegal" protests by the opposition party in June and last week. People have been killed.
"My government regrets seriously the incidents," Ayele said.
More than 80 languages and 200 dialects are spoken in Ethiopia, mostly reflecting different ethnic groups.
Despite such far-reaching diversity, violence is rare, Ayele said. And Ethiopia is a nation where Christians and Muslims peacefully co-exist.
"We don't have any extremism in any of the two religions," Ayele said.
The country can play a pivotal role in President Bush's war on terrorism because of its proximity to Somalia, which does not have a stable government and has become a refuge for terrorists fleeing places like Afghanistan, Ayele said.
The country sent 6,000 military troops to aid the United States during the Korean War. The military also has been a player in peace-keeping efforts involving the regional conflicts in Burundi, Liberia and Rwanda.
"Our international peace-keeping troops are highly disciplined and trained," he said.
E-mail: lhancock@desnews.com