These are excerpts from editorials in newspapers from around the world which may be of interest to Royal Gazette readers:

The Star, Johannesburg, South Africa, on the African National Congress and AIDS:

The country needs someone with independence and imagination to lead its fight against HIV/AIDS, which is a "war of enormous magnitude". These sentiments are shared by many.

Sadly, it appears that this country is nowhere near finding that person, especially not from the ruling party. The national executive committee of the ANC has proved that it has no independence at all from its president.

In a statement released after its final meeting for the year, the NEC said it was satisfied that "significant progress ... had been made in creating awareness about HIV/AIDS, encouraging prevention, combating prejudice and discrimination, and building a foundation for adequate treatment and care." What country are these people living in?

The Times, London, on Israel's missile attacks on Yasser Arafat's headquarters:

If the assault on his helicopter facilities in Gaza City and the enforced closure of the sole Palestinian airport were insufficiently clear signals, the Israeli missile attack on Yasser Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah yesterday made Ariel Sharon's intentions evident. Mr. Arafat is a virtually stranded figure, both physically and politically, and his freedom of movement depends entirely on the charity of the Israeli Prime Minister.

The complex demands of coalition politics in Jerusalem, notably his preference for retaining the Labour Party in his Cabinet, may mean that Mr. Sharon stops short of ordering the targeted killing of Mr. Arafat and does not declare the peace process to be dead and buried indefinitely. But he would not weep if Mr. Arafat went into exile. Mr. Sharon would be wise to exercise this element of caution. His spokesmen have said that it is not his policy to kill Mr. Arafat, although Israel plainly could if it so aspired, and he should not abandon that promise. The death of Mr. Arafat would not of itself resolve Israel's security dilemma and it would, understandably, be the cause of enormous trouble.

The Guardian, London, on Ariel Sharon's address:

Ariel Sharon's address to Israelis (Monday) showed him apparently confident that he enjoys a new level of American support even as he condemned Yasser Arafat in terms so extreme they could prefigure the full-scale attack on the Palestinian Authority that Israel has always so far avoided. The gunships that raked Mr. Arafat's Gaza helicopter pad yesterday could be a signal of worse to come, of a complete break with the Palestinian leadership, of the destruction of its infrastructure and of the dispersal and expulsion of its personnel. But it is impossible to believe that Mr. Sharon has returned from Washington with an American mandate for such a course.

Chaos and a complete loss of control have never been nearer in the Middle East.