Latest news & pics of Bono in Africa

[Giant Lemon]

Bono Tours Africa With O'Neill
Wed May 22, 3:11 AM ET
By CLAR NI CHONGHAILE, Associated Press Writer

ACCRA, Ghana (AP) - Bono leans back in his car seat. His shirt is stained with large patches of sweat, his boots are dusty. The rock star has been talking to Ghanaians at a trade fair for over an hour, but he is still eager to discuss Africa's desperate need for aid.

He is also angry after visiting the run-down district of Nima in Ghana's coastal capital Accra. Malaria runs rife, there is no running water and the poverty-stricken residents must pay to use the toilet.

"I got all kinds of mixed feelings. Agitation ... quite angry. I'm getting angrier as the day goes on. I cannot believe that this is a world I want to be part of," he said Tuesday.

"Nima is the real world (news - Y! TV). It's where the full force of the free market is being felt. I thought they should be throwing rocks at us," he said.

It was the end of a long day and the first of many. Bono is in Africa for a 10-day tour with Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill. The trip is billed by the Bush administration as a fact-finding mission, part of a new commitment to boost aid to Africa.

For the lead singer of U2, the trip is a chance to show O'Neill the continent's needs and successes.

"The aim of the trip is to show Secretary O'Neill effective aid and what it can do," he said. "These people in Africa don't have much time for us to dress up for the debate, as important as that may be."

Bono and O'Neill may be sharing a plane on their tour through Ghana, South Africa, Uganda and Ethiopia, but that does not mean they share opinions on how best to help these countries.

Bono acknowledges that he is learning from the silver-haired 66-year-old, who has criticized past anti-poverty programs in Africa, saying they failed to generate real development, therefore wasting billions of dollars.

"He's shown me stuff. The trade fair was his idea. He believes in private enterprise. I've explained to him that in some parts of Africa people are too sick to be part of the work force. There is a poverty trap," he said.

O'Neill did not visit Nima with Bono. He was giving a speech to the American Chamber of Commerce (news - web sites), but the duo will be together again on Wednesday, flying to the northern town of Tamale to talk to villagers.

The pragmatic O'Neill says he is in Africa not to preach but to listen. However, he does already have some strong ideas about what needs to be done.

"I think that the solution to poverty is jobs," he told the American Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday. "I'm more interested myself in seeing that funds flow where opportunity is going to be created."

After his visit to Nima, Bono was more concerned with what he called human rights — the right to clean water, and to primary education. He says that until these rights are assured, debt forgiveness for poor countries must continue.

"Whilst these are not available, we should not, must not and cannot collect these old debts. We must make sure in terms of trade that there is a level playing field," he said.

The 42-year-old pop icon, whose real name is Paul Hewson, has long campaigned to get the Group of Eight top industrial countries to provide greater debt relief for the world's poorest countries. He is the co-founder of the Debt, AIDS (news - web sites) and Trade in Africa Agenda.

During his first day in Ghana, Bono told President John Kufuor that he was a fan of the country, and its "dignified and smart" people.

"Ghana is in a position to leap ahead. If it doesn't and if the international community doesn't bring common sense and cash to bear, all the good will you see latent in the people will be taken advantage of by other extremist philosophers that will turn us into their enemies," he said later.

Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, the issue of fighting poverty to eliminate a breeding ground for terrorists has gained momentum. It will be a top agenda item of the G-8 countries at their June summit in Canada.

The fact that Bono is such an outspoken advocate for aid does not seem to have dampened his star appeal. At the trade fair, people were thrilled to have their photos taken with him, and others shyly asked for autographs.

"He's a rock star, and people get very excited when you go places with him," O'Neill said. "But he is also very smart and he cares about people a lot."

The straight-talking Bono was blunt about what he ultimately wants.

"It's time for action and I am convinced that we will see a historic initiative on AIDS within a year. I am confident we will see debts of countries performing well against corruption further canceled or fully canceled ... and a serious increase in aid," he said.

[Hallelujah Here She Comes]

Nice! Thanks for the update.

[Giant Lemon]

Rockstar Bono from the band U2 helps a young girl put on a necklace as U.S. Treasury Seecretary Paul O'Neill pays for it, at Akola market in Accra, Ghana, Wednesday May 22, 2002. O'Neill and Bono purchased the necklace for the Ghanaian girl from a local jeweller as they visited the Akola market to see conditions there. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das)


Bono from the Irish rock band U2 holds up a Ghanese garment in Accra, Ghana, Tuesday, May 21, 2002. Bono and U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill are in Ghana for 2 days as part of a four-nation African tour in which Bono hopes to convince O'Neill that Africa can and does put Western aid to good use. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das)


Irish rock singer Bono, left, U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, center, and Ghana's President John Kufuor meet at the Christiansborg castle in Accra, Ghana, Tuesday, May 21, 2002. O'Neill and Bono are in Ghana for two days as part of a four-nation African tour in which Bono hopes to convince O'Neill that Africa can and does put western aid to good use. (AP Photo/Sam Essuman)


[This message has been edited by Giant Lemon (edited 05-22-2002).]

[Giant Lemon]

Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill (L) and U2 frontman Bono (R) visit a women's community fish smoking project in Ghana's capital of Accra, May 22, 2002. Three days into their tour of Africa, O'Neill and Bono staked out their positions on whether private enterprise or more aid was best to help the world's poorest continent. Photo by Staff/Reuters


Irish rock star Bono lends his blue Bulgari wrap-around shades to Felicia Boateng, 12, a schoolgirl who asked him to sing for her classmates in Richard Akwei Memorial School in Ghana's capital Accra, May 22, 2002. Bono told her she was "genuinely cool". Bono, on a tour of Africa with U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, sang U2 hit "Still haven't found what I'm looking for". REUTERS/David Clarke


US Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, second from left, and rock star Bono from the band U2, left, enquire about the price of products at teh butchery section of Akola market in Accra Ghana, Wednesday May 22, 2002. O'Neill and Bono visited the Akola market to see conditions there. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das)


US Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, left, and rock star Bono from the band U2, enquire about the price of products at Akola market in Accra Ghana, Wednesday May 22, 2002. O'Neill and Bono visited the Akola market to see conditions there. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das)

[Giant Lemon]

Rock star Bono from the band U2 and US Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill share a joke as they visit Akola market in Accra Ghana, Wednesday May 22, 2002. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das)

[oliveu2cm]

Thanks Giant Lemon..

here is another good article:


Financial Times
21st May, 2002

The Odd Couple

By Alan Beattie


As the aeroplane carrying Paul O'Neill and Bono crosses the
Mediterranean and starts out over African airspace, the two make
their first visit to the back of the plane, where the press are
camped out in surprising comfort. The chartered 757 has enough room
to allow each reporter to bag a row of seats.

Bono is looking unshaven and a blurry round the edges after spending
the weekend dancing on tables at the New York stag weekend of the Edge,
U2's guitarist. Mr. O'Neill, who has been at the less raucous
surroundings of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
meetings in Bucharest, is neatly pressed.

Bono eases himself into his usual loqaciousness with a riff about
himself and the Treasury secretary being the Odd Couple, a referemce
to the movie and TV show about a mismatched pair of housemates -- one
tidy and one messy. Since he himself is untidy and the sort of person
who leaves pizza boxes about the place, Bono says, the part of the
fastidious Felix must be taken by Mr. O'Neill.

At the beginning of the trip, the two are keen to get on, and each
nods vigorously while the other is talking. Bono starts off with a
faintly contrived comparison between Ghana, the first country on the
itinerary, and his native Ireland, both "coming out from under the
hoof of colonialism." (The Republic of Ghana emerged from under the
boot of the British in 1957, a few decades later than the Republic of
Ireland.) This is mixed in with his repeated insistence that Ghana
is "the birthplace of cool."

On Tuesday, the two are to visit a U.S.-owned data processing company
in the capital Accra, which carries out data entry for medical and
dental companies in the U.S. and enjoys a tax holiday from the Ghanaian
government.

"Ghanaians are very sharp, elegant, smart people, which is why I
think they will take to the new economy really well," Bono says. "The
technology sector is exactly right for them. As an Irish person, I
have seen what export processing zones can do. Irish people got the
move on a lot of other European countries because of Gateway and Dell
coming into the west of Ireland. Ghana could be that country in
Africa."

Mr. O'Neill leaps in with his own contribution, saying that much of
Ireland's success in attracting investment, can be put down to low
tax rates -- one of his favourite subjects. The two go on to spend a
lot of time ostentatiously agreeing with each other but at a somewhat
tangential counterpoint.

Bono talks about the importance of education in Ireland's present,
and Ghana's future, success. Mr. O'Neill agrees, adding that education
in developing countries needs to be measured in terms of children
passing standardised tests, not just numbers enrolled in
school. "Going to school without learning something is worse than not
going to school," he says. Bono agrees, adding that children need to
be in school before they can pass the tests.

One concern expressed by some Ghanaian non-governmental organisations
is that the model for Ghana's development, based on trade
liberalisation and export promotion, brings little benefit to the
rural poor. Bono acknowledges such critiques, but adds that it is not
for him to tell the Ghanaians how to run their economy.

"I do not agree with micro-managing southern hemisphere economies
from Washington. I don't think secretary O'Neill does either. Rather
oddly, we agree on this." On cue, Mr. O'Neill agrees with him. "I know
it can't be done," he says.

And so, on this note of insistent consonance, the trip begins.

One of the main concerns for the days ahead is whether the Ghanaians
can live up to the extraordinary billing Bono has given
them. "Ghanaians are cool," he says. "Kofi [Annan, we presume] is
one. They look jazz."

© Financial Times, 2002.

------------------
"Yours is the heaven that lies in the common dust,
and you are there for me, you are there for all."
~Rabindra Rachnavali

*Take Me Higher*

[tiny dancer]

Thank you Giant Lemon for sharing your pictures with us. Bono is a truly remarkable person.

[STING2]

Hey Giant Lemon,

Those pics are great! Thanks for posting them!

[WildHonee]

*Bono fuzzies*

-----------------
~*Mona Vox of Easy Street*~

"Come on wake up, I just took one of your Bono shirts out of the dryer" ~Mom

[spanisheyes]

Bono tours Africa video

Bono's work for Africa is in the news everywhere.

We captured a clip from todays CNN news incl. a short interview with Bono and Treasury Secretary Paul H. O'Neill. Also included a short solo rendition of "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For".
http://www.macphisto.net/

[sulawesigirl4]

How cute is that?



I think this could be the beginning of a whole new look for Bono.

[Desire4Bono]

Originally posted by sulawesigirl4:

How cute is that?



I think this could be the beginning of a whole new look for Bono.

What about O'Neill? He looks like Gandolf! LOL!



------------------
~"Everybody seems to think I'm lazy,
I don't mind, think they're crazy
running everywhere at such a speed
'til they find, there's no need!
Please don't spoil my day,
I'm miles away,
and after all, I'm only sleeping!"~
John Lennon

[U2Fanatic4ever]

Heeheheehee...I love those pics sula! I just saw those today. Thanks for posting them..



Peace!

------------------
If you twist and turn away
If you tear yourself in two again
If I could, yes I would
If I could, I would
Let it go
Surrender
Dislocate

[Desire4Bono]

More just in from South Africa! They met with the President and finance minister.

[OzAurora]

what nice pics- I love hearing stories like this and it makes me so proud to be a U2 fan, to know that unlike so many rock stars Bono actually for such a long time practices what he preaches

[spanisheyes]

Bono's African tour will be featured to some degree on both Fox News and CNN
tonight. Details:


Fox News Channel
4:00 p.m. ET on "Your World with Neil Cavuto"


CNN

"NewsNight with Aaron Brown"

A musician's mission: From the rock stage to the world stage: U2 frontman
Bono tells Aaron why he's hit the road on a tour of Africa.

Mon-Fri 10-11 p.m. ET / 7-8 p.m. PT;
Replays 1 a.m. ET / 10 p.m. PT
http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/aaron.brown/

[HelloAngel]

Also visit U2NEWS.com and read all pertaining and relevant articles on Bono's Africa trip.

Dozens of articles. Complete coverage.

------------------
chuck me in the shallow water before I get too deep.
carrie@interference.com

[dream wanderer]

Its BNN! The Bono news network...all Bono all the time!

I saw him on Fox today...the interviewer tried to say he was 'different' from other rock stars...Bono refused to agree...(hey...some of those 'other' rock stars are his friends....think he's dumb enough to say "yeah...they're all shallow and materialistic except me!!! on American tv?

dream wanderer

[diamond]

What a cool cat.


diamond

------------------
AIM= diamondbruno9

[Desire4Bono]

Look at our sweetheart today feeding a sick baby in an HIV-AIDS clinic in Soweto, South Africa. Isn't he the most loving/loveable guy in the world?