African primate seeks debt relief to fight AIDS.

Brisbane, Australia

(ACNS)--Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane, anti-apartheid activist and successor to Desmond Tutu as Anglican Primate of Southern Africa, planned to ask the Australian Prime Minister and Commonwealth heads of government to help release African nations from external debt so they can fight the continent's HIV/AIDS pandemic.

The Commonwealth of Nations is a voluntary association of governments and people of 54 independent countries around the world. Every two years, the 54 leaders meet in a different Commonwealth country to discuss matters of common interest.

Archbishop Ndungane was jailed as an anti-apartheid activist with Nelson Mandela on Robben Island from 1963 to 1966. Later he attended King's college, London and was named Archbishop of Cape Town in 1996.

The archbishop sees the end to the "slavery of debt" as a key step in the global response to the AIDS pandemic. He said the African countries do not want charity, but rather, justice.

In South Africa, for example, the archbishop said that the second highest item on the national agenda was for servicing of debt incurred during the apartheid regime. He added that those funds should be rechanneled to address the HIV/AIDS pandemic.