Genocide victims' Aids drug call

There have been few prosecutions for rape and sexual abuse

Groups representing survivors of the Rwandan genocide have urged the developed world to provide free drugs for thousands of women with HIV/Aids.

Many of them contracted HIV after they were raped during the mass killings.

One group said the women were being wrongly described as survivors - they were dying as a result of not being able to afford the drugs.

It is not known exactly how many women, most of them ethnic Tutsis, contracted HIV when they were raped.

However, at least 10% of the Rwandan population is believed to be HIV positive.

It is estimated that between a quarter and half a million women were subjected to various forms of rape and sexual abuse during the killings.

US response

In a report published on Tuesday, Amnesty International said that of those still surviving seven out of 10 were living with HIV-Aids.

These women can't afford medication and are facing a drawn-out death sentence Mary Kayitesi Blewitt SURF director

The victims of these crimes have faced stigmatisation, discrimination and poor access to health care, the report said, and there have been only about 100 prosecutions.

Meanwhile, the London-based charity Survivors' Fund (SURF) said the women should receive free anti-retroviral treatment.

"These women can't afford medication and are facing a drawn-out death sentence, not with machetes and clubs but from Aids as a result of a systematic rape campaign by HIV positive men during the genocide," said SURF director Mary Kayitesi Blewitt.

The US ambassador in charge of war crimes issues, Pierre-Richard Prosper, who is in Rwanda for the anniversary of the genocide, has promised to support moves for free treatment.

"We're looking to see how we can use some of the money that we pledged for HIV/Aids to help specifically with the genocide survivors," he said while visiting Aids sufferers.

"I understand that the suffering continues,"