Odd couple, U2 frontman Bono and US Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, are on a fact-finding mission in Africa, writes Declan Walsh in Nairobi.
If ever there were an odd couple, surely this is it. Next week U2 frontman Bono arrives in Africa in the company of Paul O'Neill, the silver-maned secretary of the US Treasury. They will spend 10 days together, drinking tea with heads of state, popping in on primary schools and visiting clinics full of Aids victims.
Who would have thought it - Bono, the motormouth pop star turned Third-World campaigner and policy wonk; Mr O'Neill, the hard-nosed suit at the helm of the world's juggernaut economy? But it is a serious business, with full coverage from media including MTV and Rolling Stone magazine.
"It is possible for the two of us to see life through each other's eyes," Mr O'Neill said, previewing the trip. "I'm going to get a set of blue wraparound glasses and I'm going to give him a grey wig."
The tour starts in Ghana, before hitting South Africa, Ethiopia and Uganda. It comes at a time when Africa's catastrophic problems appear to have finally nudged onto the American policy agenda.
President Bush recently surprised his critics by announcing a $5 billion (€5.43 billion) increase in American foreign aid. His people are finally talking about debt relief, fair trade and seriously tackling Hiv/Aids. There is even talk of a Marshall Plan for Africa.
Behind the scenes, playing a role so influential it earned him a cover on Time magazine, is a certain scruffy Dubliner in shades. "I'd have lunch with Satan if there was so much at stake," Bono recently told the Edge, who was apparently worried about the damage the singer's association with establishment figures could do to U2's street cred.
Others are also worried, but for different reasons. They wonder whether Bono's passionate patter can genuinely turn minds in Washington, or will it just provide glowing PR for a hawkish administration driven by an unerring sense of self-interest?
"Bono knows his stuff really well. We take our hats off to him," said Salih Booker of Washington think-tank Africa Action. "But he risks inadvertently legitimising approaches, such as globalisation, that in the end may be very harmful."
Bono, who spent six weeks with his wife Ali working in an Ethiopian orphanage in 1986, is a seasoned supporter of worthy causes.
His Christian beliefs are a key factor. But since he started campaigning for the cancellation of third world debt, he has broken the normal rules of engagement. Now the idea is that celebrity, not music, can change the world.
He started by touring the corridors of power in Washington, embracing crusty old conservatives despised by most liberals as untouchables. The most famous conversion was the powerful 80-year-old Republican senator Jesse Helms, a bitter critic of foreign aid, the United Nations and homosexuals.
"He's a religious man so I told him that 2103 verses of scripture pertain to the poor and Jesus speaks of judgment only once - and it's not about being gay or sexual morality, but about poverty," Bono told the Guardian afterwards. "He was really moved. He was in tears."
Other forbidding Republicans, such as Treasury Secretary Mr O'Neill, were equally impressed by his nimble grasp of the dense statistics surrounding debt relief. In January he took Harvard economist Jeffrey Sachs on a tour of the three African countries, and impressed many with his common touch.
Sister Mary Donovan guided him around a Malawi township ravaged by Aids and poverty. "A more astute, compassionate human being I have not met in a long time," she told The Irish Times.
February was an appearance alongside Bill Gates at the World Economic Forum in New York and a Time magazine cover headlined "Can Bono Save the World?" A month later, he was standing by President Bush after he announced the extra $5 billion in aid.
Photos showed Bono strolling alongside the grinning Texan, flashing a V-victory sign. It was a far cry from the days when Bono used to flash his two-fingers at the establishment - such as the Greenpeace dingy stunt outside Sellafield - instead of from within it.
As the well-intentioned star packs his bags for Africa, that's what has worried campaigners like Salih Booker.
"The closer he gets to politicians, the closer he's getting to that grey world of compromise. His strength is being on the outside, a campaigner."
Bono would counter that strength comes from knowing those on the inside. This unprecedented trip will put that idea to the test.
