U2 frontman Bono today said he was proud of Ireland's role in working to help Africa.
Gege Katana stands with her 2007 Front Line Award for Human Rights, presented by Bono today. Photograph: PA
The campaigning rock star was presenting a human rights award to sexual violence campaigner Gege Katana Bukuru from the Democratic Republic of Congo at a ceremony in Dublin.
Paying tribute to this year's recipient of the Front Line Award, Bono, who said he was an amateur when it came to the developing world, said Ireland can become a link between Africa and the western world.
"I am particularly proud of the country of Ireland," he said. "Ireland has some particular gift of dealing with Africa. We get it. They get us. We can be an interface between the developing world and the developed world."
He presented the award to Ms Bukuru, president of the Solidarity Movement of Women Human Rights Activists, for dedicating her life to research and campaigns against sexual violence.
The winner said the award would give her strength and encouragement to pursue her struggle against human rights abuses. "I cannot fully express my joy in receiving this award, nor my gratitude towards Front Line for supporting and helping me in my work," she said.
Ms Bukuru's movements are routinely under surveillance in her own country and she was banned from travelling between 1996 and 2003. She has been arbitrarily arrested on several occasions and regularly receives death threats.
The annual award honours a human rights defender who has displayed exceptional courage in working non-violently for the rights of others as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.