Bono pleased at Japan's pledge to double aid, but wants more

from Africasia

Rock star and poverty activist Bono said Tuesday that Japan's pledge to double its aid to Africa was "a fantastic news" but poor nations deserve more, a day before an African development meeting in Yokohama.

Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda is expected to formally announce the plan -- which will see assistance doubled by 2012 -- at the conference this week.

A Tokyo official last week said the money was part of Japan's efforts to help the impoverished continent fight poverty and civil war.

"The Japanese government told us about doubling aid. It's a fantastic news. But you have to ask the question, is it really doubling the aid, or just one piece of aid?" Bono told reporters after giving a speech at Tokyo's Keio University.

"The bilateral aid was doubled, but we have to see now as we're going to G8, if the whole of the aid, multilateral aid, will be doubled?" he said, referring to the summit of the Group of Eight richest nations that Japan hosts in July.

The aid to international organisations such as the Food and Agriculture Organisation also needs to be doubled, said the U2 frontman, a guest at the fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD IV), which begins on Wednesday.

"I think that the Japanese people want it. It's going to happen," he said.

Japan has long used aid as a key diplomatic tool. It was the world's leading donor in 1991, but its overall assistance is slipping as it tightens its belt to deal with massive debts.

During his speech to some 800 university students, Bono said "the poorest of the poor deserve more than" Tokyo's pledge.

Asked about what he expects ahead of TICAD IV, he said: "The best success story in Southeast Asia was started from Japan. So we've come hear to learn from you, how'd you do things better in Africa?"