An electronic statement from Action Aid (US) officials issued Nov. 5 said the issue was one of the consequences of the recent Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Ministerial lobby last week when trade ministers from selected African countries were invited to the US.

The statement titled, 'Uganda Breaks Ranks on WTO Under US Pressure',was distributed to Action Aid teams from UK, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nepal, Pakistan, Uganda, and Malawi Action Aid teams, among others, who are attending the WTO summit in Doha, Qatar.

The summit started yesterday and ends on Monday. Minister of Tourism, Trade and Industry, Prof. Edward Rugumayo, who led Uganda's team to Doha, told The Monitor before departure that Uganda agrees with the positions of other poor countries.

The statement, which sources forwarded to The Monitor, said that US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick called President Museveni last weekend.

"[We] found out over the weekend that Uganda is definitely supporting a new round. Zoellick even spoke with President Museveni over the weekend. Zoellick is going to rely on a few African countries to try and get other Africans on board," the statement said.

"[We] also have heard that Central American and Caribbean countries are being threatened with AID cuts if they don't back the US agenda," it added.

Meeting in Zanzibar in July, least developed countries (LDCs) agreed to a common position. They said they would not support new issues such as higher labour and environment standards that are being sponsored by the US and the European Union.

The LDCs want burning issues such as access to drugs resolved before any new issues can be debated.

A Nov. 5 New York Times report distributed together with the statement said that when the US government wanted to stockpile antibiotics for anthrax, it persuaded the patent holder to cut the price by threatening to buy generic versions, "yet the Bush administration is derailing efforts by poor countries ravaged by AIDS to facilitate their efforts to do the same".

Supported by humanitarian NGOs such as Oxfam, LDCs want a declaration that nothing in patent rules should prevent governments from making drugs accessible.

They want WTO rules to allow countries to manufacture or import low-cost equivalents, especially the anti-AIDS cocktail estimated at $10,000 (Shs 17.5m) per patient annually.

But the US is reportedly sponsoring a weaker declaration prohibiting countries that produce generic drugs from exporting them.

"Anthrax has killed a handful of Americans so far. AIDS has killed 22 million worldwide. Americans today can surely understand the need to give poor countries every possible weapon to fight back," the report said.