The UNICEF has called to the international community to "fulfill their pledges" to respond to the needs of AIDS orphans, particularly in Africa.

According to a report reaching here Monday from Maputo, capital of Mozambique, speaking at the close of a two-day conference of lawmakers from the parliaments of the eight-nation Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries (CPLP), Per Engebak, UNICEF's regional director, said some 2.5 million children in Africa lacked the financial resources to attend school due to the deaths of their parents.

The number of children orphaned by AIDS in the CPLP could rise by 25 percent in the next four years, Engebak warned in Maputo.

Among dignitaries to address the Maputo conference on HIV/AIDS was Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and first black leader of South Africa's Anglican Church.

Tutu called for African nations to "unite in efforts to combat AIDS", noting that the apartheid regime in his country had been toppled with the support of other African states.

The CPLP AIDS conference was part of a 2004-launched initiative and was sponsored by UNICEF, in association with European Parliamentarians for Africa (AWEPA) and the Maputo Parliament.

Source: Xinhua