An estimated three million Ethiopians are believed to be HIV positive, making the Horn of Africa country one of the worst-hit places in the world by the epidemic.

The leaders of three opposition parties -- All Amhara People's Organisation (AAPO), The Council of Alternative Forces for Peace and Democracy in Ethiopia (CAFPDE) and the Oromo National Congress (ONC) -- told a news conference the steps taken by the government to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS were not satisfactory.

"The government has to declare a state of emergency, and take serious steps to arrest the alarming spread of the killer disease ravaging the country," CAFPDE President Beyene Petros said, adding that "posturing and reading fancy reports by government officials at HIV/AIDs meetings" served no purpose.

Beyene lashed out at government bureaucracy which he said had failed to introduce anti-retroviral therapy and advocated the closure of establishments that profit from the sex trade and compulsory HIV/AIDS tests for prostitutes.

The Ethiopian Government has set up a National Aids Council and introduced a public awareness campaign, but analysts say there has been little impact on the spread of the disease.

The council says up to 5,000 people a week are known to be infected with HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia and attributes the spread of the disease to poverty, ignorance, gender inequality, cultural barriers, war and the displacement of people.

A national HIV/AIDS projection published in 2000 predicted up to 460 deaths per day by 2004 in the 15 to 49-year-old age group. If present trends continue, some 5.25 million Ethiopians will have died from HIV/AIDS by 2014.