JCOSTER
ONE love, blood, life
Bono wants United States of Africa: newspaper
1 day ago
TOKYO (AFP) — Pop star and activist Bono has called for the creation of a United States of Africa, saying that a pan-continental identity would serve as a catalyst for resolving its conflicts.
The U2 frontman, who was in Japan to take part in a major development conference last week, said that a United States of Africa "would be the dream" in the long term.
"I think a kind of broader African identity is going to be very important to deal with tribal tensions," Bono told Tuesday's Asahi Shimbun, where he served as a guest-editor for a special Africa edition on Saturday.
The Irish rock star said that developing a broader identity may seem largely "poetic," but has been proven successful.
"Irish people used to always have a little giggle when they would see Americans saluting their flags in schools, and then the whole standing there, singing the flag thing," Bono said.
"But as you get to know a little bit more about things, you start to think, ah, there's so many different tribal groups in the United States, that to create a national identity of that size, they had to really work at this kind of patriotism," he said.
The African Union was created in 2002 with inspiration from the European Union, but critics say the body has lacked the funds and political will to take effective action on the continent's flashpoints.
It intervened in 2004 in the strife-torn western Sudanese region of Darfur, but has relinquished leadership to the United Nations to form a joint peacekeeping force.
However, an African Union-backed force in March for the first time removed a renegade leader in an intervention in the Comoros island of Anjouan.
Thoughts...or is my beloved reaching to far?
1 day ago
TOKYO (AFP) — Pop star and activist Bono has called for the creation of a United States of Africa, saying that a pan-continental identity would serve as a catalyst for resolving its conflicts.
The U2 frontman, who was in Japan to take part in a major development conference last week, said that a United States of Africa "would be the dream" in the long term.
"I think a kind of broader African identity is going to be very important to deal with tribal tensions," Bono told Tuesday's Asahi Shimbun, where he served as a guest-editor for a special Africa edition on Saturday.
The Irish rock star said that developing a broader identity may seem largely "poetic," but has been proven successful.
"Irish people used to always have a little giggle when they would see Americans saluting their flags in schools, and then the whole standing there, singing the flag thing," Bono said.
"But as you get to know a little bit more about things, you start to think, ah, there's so many different tribal groups in the United States, that to create a national identity of that size, they had to really work at this kind of patriotism," he said.
The African Union was created in 2002 with inspiration from the European Union, but critics say the body has lacked the funds and political will to take effective action on the continent's flashpoints.
It intervened in 2004 in the strife-torn western Sudanese region of Darfur, but has relinquished leadership to the United Nations to form a joint peacekeeping force.
However, an African Union-backed force in March for the first time removed a renegade leader in an intervention in the Comoros island of Anjouan.
Thoughts...or is my beloved reaching to far?
I didn't think of that... the difference in currency strength! 
Sorry to tell you but it doesn't work that way.
