France accused the United States on Tuesday of pressuring developing countries to give up their right to make cheap generic HIV drugs in return for free-trade agreements -- with President Jacques Chirac calling the tactic "tantamount to blackmail."

A U.S. official dismissed the French allegation as "nonsense," while delegates to the International AIDS Conference lamented figures showing only about 7% of the 6 million people in poor countries who need antiretroviral treatment are getting it.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged Washington to show the same leadership in fighting AIDS as it has in fighting terrorism.

"We hear a lot about weapons of mass destruction, we hear a lot about terrorism. And we are worried about weapons of mass destruction because of the potential to kill thousands. Here we have an epidemic that is killing millions. What is the response?" Annan said in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corp. in Bangkok.

"We really do need a leadership. America has a natural leadership capacity because of its resources, because of its size," Annan said.

Since the last AIDS conference in Barcelona in 2002, the number of people being treated for the disease has doubled in the developing world to 440,000. At the same time, 6 million people died from the virus and 10 million people became infected, World Health Organization figures show.

Nearly 20,000 policy makers, scientists and activists are attending the conference, along with actor Richard Gere and Miss Universe Jennifer Hawkins. South African elder statesman Nelson Mandela planned to sing with a group of AIDS-afflicted children. Hollywood actress Ashley Judd visited a condom factory in central Thailand where she was welcomed by a giant inflated condom strung up on a ceiling.

"By these measures of human life, the ones that really matter, we have failed. And we have failed miserably to do enough in the precious time that has passed since Barcelona," said Jim Kim, WHO's AIDS director.

Cost is a key issue. European and U.S. pharmaceutical giants make most of the drugs, which are protected by patents and cost as much as $5,000 per person a year.

Many major drug companies have dropped their prices of AIDS drugs in recent years, and have given some away free in Africa.

The Bush administration's five-year, $15 billion plan for worldwide HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment is modeled after a program in Uganda, which stresses abstinence, monogamy and condom use.

The Bush plan also devotes $5 billion over five years to bilateral programs in more than 100 countries and increases the U.S. pledge to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria by $1 billion over five years.

France's global ambassador on AIDS, Mireille Guigaz, said Chirac was not trying to create tension with Washington.

Chirac also called on rich nations to raise donations to the 2?-year-old U.N. Global Fund -- aimed primarily at fighting AIDS -- by $3 billion per year. Wealthy countries have committed only a fifth of the $3.5 billion the fund needs for next year, U.N. officials said.

Source: Agencies