Armenia could be about to providethe world with a real sensation. Nothing less than a cure for AIDS T notjust a cure for AIDS either but for all immune system diseases. This startlingpiece of news has been the talk of Yerevan since Serge Sarkisyan, Armeniannational security and interior minister, announced that 13 patients diagnosedwith AIDS were cured using a medicine developed in Armenia.

According to Sarkisyan, the new wonderdrug is the result of fruitful co-operation between Armenian scientists,businessmen and the country’s secret services. The medicine itself is certainlyvery secret at this stage: The hospital where the tests were carried outwas kept under guard; the miraculously cured patients have been taken toan unknown destination; and the doctors involved are avoiding the press.

Trustworthy sources say that themiracle medicine does exist: It is called Armenicum, and after independenttests have been carried out, it will be presented to the World Health Organisation.Work on the medicine began in Kazakhstan under the direction of an Armenianscientist. When the money dried up in Kazakhstan, this Armenian researcher,whose identity is a closely guarded secret, turned to his compatriots atthe Armenian embassy. The information was passed on to the secret servicesand the research continued with private funding from Armenia. As to whythe mysterious scientist did not turn to research centres in, say, theUnited States, but to Armenia T it was a matter of urgency. Years wouldhave been spent testing the medicine first on mice and then on monkeyswhile people were waiting and dying.

News of the miracle drug first appearedlast autumn in the pages of the Armenian Interior Ministry newspaper butdrew little attention. Since then, the information has been confirmed notonly by Minister Sarkisyan, but also by the Armenian chief prosecutor andby Emil Gabrielyan, a respected scientist and vice president of the NationalAcademy of Sciences. According to one Armenian newspaper, interest hasbeen shown by Boris Berezovskii, who, during his last visit to Yerevan,is reported to have made an offer of $10 billion for the medicine’s formula.

It all sounds too good to be true.That is the opinion of opposition groups in Armenia who call Sarkisyan’sstatement misinformation and say it is just a ploy to boost the minister’sratings and divert public attention from murders, scandals and problemsin the run up to parliamentary elections. One thing is certain: If themedicine really does exist and can live up to all it promises, the firstpatient to be cured will be the Armenian economy.