Blair, Geldof try once again ‘to help Africa’

LONDON – British prime minister Tony Blair, who has called Africa’s poverty and AIDS crisis “a scar on the conscience of the world,” was left yesterday for Ethiopia, where he planned to join Band Aid star Bob Geldof in exploring new ways of helping the continent.

A week ago, Blair emphasized his long-standing concerns about Africa by inviting rock star Bono to make a speech at the governing Labour Party’s national conference. The front man of the Irish band U2, a well known activist for the world’s poor, urged Europe and the United States to do more to help Africa with its problems, saying it was “bursting into flames.”Bono said 6 500 Africans were “dying a day of treatable, preventable disease, dying for want of medicines you and I can get at our local chemist.”Blair, who last week underwent an operation to correct an irregular heartbeat, decided to go ahead with his three-day trip to Ethiopia, where he was to attend the second session of his Commission for Africa in Addis Ababa.He was to be joined there by Geldof, the Irish rocker whose fund-raising campaign 20 years ago raised millions in donations from around the world for the starving of Ethiopia.The commission plans to report about the current situation there in time for its findings to be discussed by the Group of Eight industrialised nations when they meet next year in Britain.Blair has promised to make the plight of Africa one of the twin focuses of his G-8 chairmanship, along with climate change.The goal of the commission, which begins meeting tomorrow, “is to help Africa help itself,” with problems such as AIDS, conflicts, weak governance and corruption, Blair’s spokesman said.- Nampa-APThe front man of the Irish band U2, a well known activist for the world’s poor, urged Europe and the United States to do more to help Africa with its problems, saying it was “bursting into flames.”Bono said 6 500 Africans were “dying a day of treatable, preventable disease, dying for want of medicines you and I can get at our local chemist.”Blair, who last week underwent an operation to correct an irregular heartbeat, decided to go ahead with his three-day trip to Ethiopia, where he was to attend the second session of his Commission for Africa in Addis Ababa.He was to be joined there by Geldof, the Irish rocker whose fund-raising campaign 20 years ago raised millions in donations from around the world for the starving of Ethiopia.The commission plans to report about the current situation there in time for its findings to be discussed by the Group of Eight industrialised nations when they meet next year in Britain.Blair has promised to make the plight of Africa one of the twin focuses of his G-8 chairmanship, along with climate change.The goal of the commission, which begins meeting tomorrow, “is to help Africa help itself,” with problems such as AIDS, conflicts, weak governance and corruption, Blair’s spokesman said.- Nampa-AP