The
M+G+R Foundation
Nobel
peace
laureate claims HIV deliberately
created
A Guest Document
October 9, 2004
Kenyan ecologist Wangari Maathai, the first
African woman to win the
Nobel Peace Prize, today reiterated her claim that the AIDS virus was a
deliberately created biological agent.
"Some say that AIDS came from the monkeys, and
I doubt that because we
have been living with monkeys (since) time immemorial, others say it
was a curse from God, but I say it cannot be that.
"Us black people are dying more than any other
people in this planet,"
Ms Maathai told a press conference in Nairobi a day after winning the
prize for her work in human rights and reversing deforestation across
Africa.
"It's true that there are some people who
create agents to wipe out
other people. If there were no such people, we could have not have
invaded Iraq," she said.
"We invaded Iraq because we believed that
Saddam Hussein had made, or
was in the process of creating agents of biological warfare," said Ms
Maathai.
"In fact it (the HIV virus) is created by a
scientist for biological warfare," she added.
"Why has there been so much secrecy about
AIDS? When you ask where did
the virus come from, it raises a lot of flags. That makes me
suspicious," Ms Maathai said.
Africa accounts for 25 million out of the
estimated 38 million across
the world infected with HIV, and the vast majority of infected Africans
are women, according to UNAIDS estimates.
The United States on Friday congratulated Ms
Maathai on winning the
Nobel Peace Prize, but tempered its praise over her claims about AIDS.
"She said (HIV/AIDS) was invented as a
bio-weapon in some laboratory in the West," a senior State Department
official said.
"We don't agree with that."
The official pointed to a report of those
comments published in August
in Kenya's daily Standard newspaper, in which Ms Maathai was quoted as
saying that HIV/AIDS was created by scientists for the purpose of mass
extermination.
