U2 frontman Bono took centre stage at the Labour Party conference today, although his speech was delayed by 50 minutes because of security searches on delegates at the start of the afternoon's business.
As guest speaker at the Brighton conference, Bono urged British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair and British Chancellor Mr Gordon Brown to use Britain's influence, during its presidency of the G8 and EU next year, to transform the future of Africa.
The U2 frontman has long been campaigning on AIDS/HIV and African poverty since the LiveAid and BandAid initiatives in the mid-80's. In his speech, he reminded delegates that 6,500 Africans are dying a day of treatable, preventable disease and suggested that "deep down if we really accepted that Africans were equal to us, we would all do more to put the fire out".
Bono praised the British government's decision to increase its contribution to the global fight against HIV/Aids but warned that more needed to be done: Britain's overall contribution will increase from £300 million a year to £550 million a year by 2007/08. The Government has also announced £150 million over three years to support Aids orphans.
Bono likened Mr Blair's and Mr Brown's influence to that of the Beatles Paul McCartney and John Lennon, saying the former pair "can change the real world" just as the latter changed his (Bono's) interior world.
The Dubliner is the latest in a string of celebrities to address the annual gathering, including Nelson Mandela, Bill Clinton and Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai.
Bono's speech also referred to the Debt, Aids, Trade Africa (Data) organisation and his backing for a new campaign called Make Poverty History.
Data has also called for action in Sudan, where thousands of people have been killed by government-backed militias and more than one million refugees have been displaced. ends