BBC News Online: World: Africa

Ministry attacks Mbeki Aids stance

South Africa's hospitals are full of Aids sufferers

A leaked internal document written by South Africa's Ministry of Health warns that the government's policies on coping with Aids are unacceptable from a human rights perspective.

The document, believed to have been written by senior officials in the Ministry, warns that the spread of Aids will become increasingly politically dangerous in the next few years.

This leaked document questions the very morality of President Thabo Mbeki's approach.

Mr Mbeki has doubts, both about the link between the HIV virus and Aids and the extent to which the disease has spread in South Africa.

Hesitated

The officials who wrote this document do not share his doubts.

They say millions of South Africans will die from the disease and whilst the government has hesitated over the use of anti-retroviral drugs, this document recommends their wider provision.

Meanwhile, religious leaders, trades unionists and Aids campaigners have called on the government to publish another report by South Africa's Medical Research Council which states that Aids is the country's leading cause of death.

President Mbeki has always argued to the contrary and the Medical Research Council has delayed publication at the government's request.