Film about the making of Live Aid in production

This fall, the BBC will air a movie depicting Sir Bob Geldof's work in organizing the Live Aid concerts that took place 25 years ago this week. The film depicts Geldof's relationship with promoter Harvey Goldsmith as they put together something that had never been done before. The Live Aid concerts began a new era in charity and awareness of the needs in Africa, with the television audience reaching over 1.5 billion people worldwide.

From Reuters AlertNet, writer Kylie MacLellan tells us more about the film.

Filming has already begun in Dublin for the 90-minute drama "When Harvey met Bob", which follows the story from the moment Geldof arrived home to find his then girlfriend Paula Yates holding their baby and weeping as she watched television footage from feeding camps in Eritrea.

Played by Domhnall Gleeson, who stars in the upcoming seventh Harry Potter film, Geldof persuaded a host of rock stars to give their name and talents for free to the Band Aid charity Christmas record "Do they know it's Christmas?"

But it is on a trip to Ethiopia to ensure the proceeds from the record, which sold millions of copies, reached the starving that Geldof realised more needed to be done and teamed up with Goldsmith to stage a huge televised international charity gig, held simultaneously in London and Philadelphia.

"We were inspired by this story because it has, at its heart, a fantastic relationship that is funny, moving and born out of the real drama of trying to achieve something huge and unprecedented," said Kate Triggs of producers Great Meadow Productions.

A nurse who helped to inspire Live Aid

25 years ago, the news coverage depicting starving children in Ethiopia prompted Sir Bob Geldof to act. Geldof put together the benefit concert Live Aid which not only provided food to Ethiopia, but ushered in a new era of action against hunger and poverty.

Some of the news coverage Geldof witnessed showed a nurse who was trying to care for children in Ethiopia. Claire Bertschinger told viewers in the UK that she had to pick and choose which children received food and turn the others away. The BBC now has some of the footage streaming at their website.

From the BBC, we read this interview with Claire Bertschinger 25 years after the Ethiopian famine. Bertschinger says it took her over 20 years to finally talk about the nightmarish scenes she saw first-hand.

It was this footage that moved Bob Geldof to begin his fundraising.

"Without any aid, Live Aid or anybody sending money, thousands, millions more people would have died," she said.

"What Live Aid did was to support them long enough for the rains to come, for them to grow crops.

"We, as the Red Cross, gave seeds and hoes so they could start growing crops again and gradually they managed to have small stores of food.

"So that when a drought came along they could go back to their stores and not have a similar famine," she added.
...

In Michael Buerk's famous report on the millions of people facing starvation the previous year, Dame Claire talked about how she had to decide which children would be fed, and who would not.

She admitted she had been "scarred" by those experiences.

"I can remember one time when I had children needing to come in," she said.

"They just had skin dripping off their bones, they had no fat or muscle left at all and I counted 10 rows of children and in each row there were a 100 children and I only had 60 places.

"It was a horrendous situation where I had to choose who could come in and who couldn't."

The Ibrahim interview

Bob Geldof is getting good at editing publications. Sir Geldof had earlier edited an issue of a magazine, this week Geldof and Bono were given control of Canada's Globe and Mail. The special issue was used as a preview of the G-8 summit coming to Canada later this year.

As a part of this issue, the Globe and Mail had an interview with Mo Ibrahim, African businessman turned government watchdog. Ibrahim built a mobile phone network in Africa, then sold it billions. He is now using part of the money in a foundation that calls for good governance in Africa. The foundation issues an annual award for good governance but that award had no winner last year.

From the Globe and Mail, writer Gordon Pitts interviews Ibrahim.

Is the idea of good governance progressing in African states?

We see slow improvement.

Why is it happening?

The end of the Cold War was essential for Africa. The superpowers used to have client states, to which they’d say: “It doesn’t matter if you are a dictator or not, as long as you are in my camp – in the scramble for resources or votes in the UN or whatever.” It made for bad company. I think the Cold War was worse for Africa than colonialism.

Now, we are starting to notice the rise of the civil society in Africa. And new technology: There are 450 million mobile phones in Africa now, out of 950 million people, so it has really enabled people to communicate with each other.

Do you agree with those who say aid is the problem, not the solution?

In most part, it is a silly discussion. Whenever there is disaster or famine somewhere, we cannot stand by and watch. On HIV, malaria, Darfur, or Somalia, we need to help our brothers and sisters. So there is not much discussion about humanitarian aid.

And we must really focus on developmental aid. We need to deliver better aid and untied aid. Actually, we need to deliver aid to end aid. Nobody in Africa loves to be a beggar, or a recipient of aid. Everywhere I go in Africa, people say ‘when are we going to stand up on our feet?’

Africa as a continent is rich, but Africans as a people are poor. The answer is governance. We really need to get our act together to improve the quality of life of our people. Developmental aid will speed up this process.

What about just borrowing more capital from banks?

That is just a fantasy. Unfortunately, our malfunctioning banking system doesn’t deal with Africa. They think Africa is too risky. You cannot rely on Goldman Sachs or whoever to really help – those guys just love subprime mortgages and all the other crap.

We should also support projects that help economic integration. Africa is disconnected. Internal African trade is about 8 per cent of the trade total. In Africa, we have 53 little countries and we are intentionally determined not to communicate and trade and move goods between each other. It’s stupid.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/g8-g20/africa/mo-ibrahims-search-for-good-governance/article1562666/

Geldof responds to "Starsuckers"

A documentary film to be televised in Britain tomorrow criticizes the humanitarian work of Sir Bob Geldof. The film called "Starsuckers" says that money raised through Geldof's concerts was misspent and even led to tragic deaths.

In response, Geldof made public a letter he wrote to the director of the film. From the WA Today in Australia, writer Paul Lewis tells us what is in the letter.

n an attempt to persuade the director to retract the allegations from the film, to be televised in Britain tomorrow, Geldof wrote a meandering and at times emotional explanation of his work.

In it he said he had significant influence over world leaders in the run-up to the 2005 G8 summit. He contrasted the achievements of his Live 8 campaign with the global coalition of anti-poverty campaigners, which he characterised as ''a bit lame'' and almost entirely ineffectual.

Claiming that ''all … the combined lobbying might of the total NGO community'' failed to ignite public opinion over global poverty, Geldof drew attention to the powerful impact of the Live 8 concerts, which were televised simultaneously to audiences around the world. ''They are the vast billions watching,'' he said. ''Brought together around the electric hearth of the TV or computer screen by the Pied Pipers of Rock'n'Roll.''

He also defended his proximity to world leaders: ''Like it or not the agents of change in our world are the politicians. Otherwise you're always outside the tent pissing in. They stay inside their tent pissing back out at you. This is futile. My solution is to get inside the tent and piss in there.''

The film in question is Starsuckers, a polemic against media and celebrity that includes a string of allegations about Geldof. They include the suggestion that money raised from the 1985 Live Aid concerts to tackle famine in Ethiopia was misspent, leading to deaths, and criticism that the successor concerts two decades later, Live 8, overshadowed a mass movement of campaigners in the Make Poverty History coalition.

Analysis of the G-8 aid commitments to Africa

The big story yesterday was the new report from the ONE Campaign on the G-8 fulfillment of aid promises. ONE had really attacked Italy and France for dragging the whole G-8 aid average down. ONE says that the two countries had fallen way short of it's promises to double aid to the African continent.

Despite the broken promises, China gives more aid for African infrastructure than the whole G-8 combined. This is one of the reasons that Sir Bob Geldof wants more international voices to contribute to solve the problems of poverty, instead of just eight nations.

We found a great analysis of all this in TIME Magazine, writer Vivienne Walt analyzes the difficulty that rich nations have in keeping commitments while trying to prevent collapses at home due to the global recession.

It may be no surprise, in light of the global economic recession, that the world's richest nations have failed to deliver much of the aid they promised Africa four years ago. But campaigners are not letting the Group of 8 (G-8) industrialized countries off the hook. According to ONE, an advocacy group founded by U2 singer Bono, most of the blame for the shortfall in pledges made at the high-profile Gleneagles summit in 2005 rests on just two countries — Italy and France. Italy, which next month hosts a summit of G-8 leaders, has delivered a miniscule 3% of the amount it pledged at Gleneagles, according to ONE's annual DATA report tracking aid delivery. France has given just 7% of its pledged amount.

At Gleneagles, the leaders of the U.S., Japan and the wealthiest European countries vowed to supply $21.5 billion in aid to Africa by 2010, to help the continent work its way out of poverty by tackling dire problems in health and education. But with just a year to go to 2010, only $7 billion of the additional $21.5 billion has come through — with France and Italy accounting for the bulk of the shortfall, although that could rise to about $11 billion by the end of this year. The star of the donors is Britain, which is on track to become the first G-8 country to meet the target of spending 0.7% of its national income on aid. Still, the G-8 as a whole looks unlikely to achieve its targets. (See pictures of the global financial crisis.)

The leaders who pledged the $21.5 billion in 2005 obviously hadn't anticipated the global downturn that would force them to spend hundreds of billions on bailing out their own floundering economies. And the squeeze on the finances of G-8 countries is likely to worsen, next year, as governments scramble to lower their deficits, rather than risk inflation in the midst of rising unemployment. Overseas aid could then suffer even further cuts. "As governments look to cut deficits, they will look to cut all parts of their budgets and these parts that are to help the poorest may or may not be cut as part of that process," Bill Gates told reporters in London on Thursday at the launch of the DATA report. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation operates in numerous African countries, and its $27.5 billion endowment makes it a far more significant donor than foreign governments are in some countries.

Cuts in aid budgets by the industrialized nations could prove disastrous for some African countries, according to the Africa Progress Panel, a group led by former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan. "The financial meltdown that evolved into an economic recession has now become a development crisis," warns the Panel's report released on Wednesday. "Combined with the food crisis, the volatility in fuel costs and climate change, it threatens to reverse Africa's recent progress."

Geldof urges governments to stay strong

Sir Bob Geldof gave a speech in London today where he urges world governments to stay the course on aid. He asks the governments to continue to give aid to the under developed world despite the world recession.

From Africasia, this AFP story made record of the speech.

"All that is required is that governments hold their nerve in the face of fear, intolerance, short-termism and stupidity while planning together a way out of this mess," Geldof said.

"We will get there. This moment will pass. There will be great pain and there will be great depravation before it all ends -- but end it will.

"And we hasten that end by removing one of the causes in this moment's conception -- the unheeding of the poor."

Geldof joked he had not worn sunglasses to hide his "swollen" left eye -- the result of an insect bite suffered on a recent visit to Africa -- "because you would've confused me with (U2 frontman) Bono, which is easy to do."

Annan and Geldof meet Italy's Premier

We love the quotes that come from Sir Bob Geldof, they have a real "punk rock" quality to them.

We found some more quotes from Bob Geldof today, as he and former UN secretary Kofi Annan met with Italy's Premier Silvio Berlusconi. Italy holds the chair of the G8 this year, so the two activists pressed the Premier to keep Africa poverty a focus as he leads the group of the wealthiest nations.

This Associated Press article that we found in the International Herald Tribune covered the meeting, and gave us the quotes from Sir Geldof.

"In richer countries this crisis is resulting in bankruptcy, unemployment, personal misery and fear for the future," the former U.N. chief said. "But for many in Africa, the effects are life-threatening."
...

Annan, who is chairman of the Africa Progress Panel, a group devoted to promoting development, warned that lives and progress were at risk in Africa because of the financial downturn. And he urged rich nations to keep up their commitments in the face of the crisis.

"The impact is profound, and deepening," said Annan, citing decreasing trade and foreign investment, drying up credit and slumping revenues. He said hunger will likely increase, school attendance will drop, and women and children will be the hard hit.

The IMF has revised downward its estimate for growth in Africa in 2009, Annan told a meeting organized by the Italian chapter of the Aspen Institute.

Geldof challenged Berlusconi to prove his leadership and be at the forefront of efforts to halve extreme poverty around the world by 2015.

"Don't talk to me about the financial crisis," Geldof told reporters. "Whatever financial crisis we meet, it is life or death" for people in Africa.

"This money does not go into some black hole, it goes into an empty stomach," Geldof said

Clinton calls on business to end hunger

from Forbes

By MICHAEL ASTOR

Former President Bill Clinton and activist-rocker Bob Geldof called on business leaders to do their part to help solve the international food crisis that pushed 75 million people into hunger and poverty last year alone.

Clinton said businesses could help solve the problem by providing farm credits, help improve agricultural productivity and foster storage and distribution systems in developing countries.

"This is not a thing that government can do alone. We have to have heavy private sector involvement," Clinton said. "The money here is not going to be massive and the payoff is going to be great."

He said he believed the future would see much more food produced locally and that would help reduce world hunger.

"The energy prices and supply reality alone, the inevitable necessity to get the developing world involved with the developed world in the fight against climate change, all of these things are going to drive us toward more agricultural self-sufficiency," Clinton said.

Clinton and Geldof spoke at a luncheon Wednesday devoted to bringing the private sector into a partnership with government and civil society to help meet the UN millennium development goal of halving the number of hungry people on Earth by 2015.

Currently there are some 923 million people going hungry on the planet and world food production will have to double by 2050 to keep up with population growth, according to the UN.

Geldof challenged the private sector to look at the problem - especially in Africa, the world's poorest continent, as a business opportunity rather than a charity case.

"There should be a logical approach to the business of Africa, a continent that has yet to be built and is open for business," he said. "There's nothing that means you have to go there with a bleeding heart, anything different than just creating profit, opportunity and growth."

Link to full article. May expire in future.

Geldof urges leaders to keep promises on aid to Africa

from The Georgia Straight

By Travis Lupick

Lifting half of the world’s poorest people out of poverty could unleash the creativity, dynamism, and intellectualism of hundreds of millions of people. This would not only save people’s lives in Africa but would also contribute to the world’s economy and cultures on an unprecedented scale.

That is the message that musician and activist Bob Geldof, a member of Tony Blair’s Commission for Africa and a former Georgia Straight music editor, is planning on taking to the United Nations on Thursday (September 25).

Speaking to the Straight from London, Geldof made an impassioned argument for an increase in aid to the world’s poorest continent.

“In principle, aid should work; in actuality, it does work,” Geldof said. “I’m constantly doing questions about whether aid works. Yes, it does. Do you want figures? We’ve got figures coming out of our fucking ass.”

The 2008 report of the Africa Progress Panel—a monitoring agency that grew out of the Commission for Africa and of which Geldof is a member—notes that Africa has received consistently higher levels of aid since 2002. In that same time, the report states, government revenues in Africa have steadily increased and African governments have committed more resources to tackling poverty.

In 2000, UN member states signed on to the Millennium Development Goals and pledged to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger by 2015. Almost eight years later, the UN is convening a high-level conference in New York City to focus on Africa’s “special development needs”.

Geldof said he plans to work the corridors at the UN meeting to hold world leaders accountable for the promises they have made in the past. In one Millennium Development goal, the world’s richest nations promised to allocate 0.7 percent of their gross national incomes to foreign aid. According to statistics published by the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development, only five countries—Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden—reached or exceeded that target in 2007. Canada allocated only 0.28 percent of its GNI to aid, and the U.S. only 0.16 percent.

“It is very frustrating to have to, every year, re-argue with them [leaders] and insist that they didn’t sign their personal names on this,” Geldof said. “They signed the dignity and honour of their country. And they seem to forget that.”

But not everybody agrees that more aid is the key to freeing Africa from the constraints of poverty.

Aweis Issa, a Somali-born UBC graduate who has helped expose Somali war criminals living in Canada, said that the number-one item for the UN’s meeting on Africa should be a conversation on how to hold Africa’s leaders accountable for their actions.

“Africa is not a poor continent; Africa has a lot of natural resources,” Issa told the Straight in an interview. “The continent of Africa is poor because we don’t have good leaders, we don’t have good education systems, we have too many people committed to the wrong things.”

As an example of the UN’s inefficiencies, Issa recalled watching the UN’s World Food Programme deliver food aid to Somalia during the country’s 1986 harvest. At a time when farmers were preparing to sell their crops, the market was flooded with food aid and prices dropped below market value.

“Africans really have to understand that dependency and food aid does not help,” Issa said. “It sounds very harsh, but if we are waiting for handouts, that is not a responsible society.…Begging for food is a lost cause, for human dignity and for human civilization.”

Geldof has never said that aid should come unconditionally. Asked if the people of Zimbabwe—who have suffered under the brutal rule of President Robert Mugabe since 1980—can be helped by aid, Geldof replied, “It is impossible.…All you can do is sit by and watch this crazed old thug destroy a once-thriving and beautiful country.”

Geldof listed a military invasion of Zimbabwe as a possible solution to the country’s seemingly endless woes, if such an action was not “politically impossible and inappropriate”.

Only hours after Geldof’s interview with the Straight, Mugabe’s ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front party and Zimbabwe’s opposition party, Movement for Democratic Change, reached a power-sharing agreement aimed at ending months of political deadlock and violence. A text message from Geldof followed the news: “Zim wl hv 2 find its own solutions.”

In recent years, Africa’s geography has emerged as an argument in itself for why development on the continent has historically been such a challenge.

“Africa has 15 landlocked countries,” Geldof noted emphatically, “more than the rest of the world put together.” As a result, land transportation is crucial to trade. Geldof explained that when one of these 15 countries does produce something, there is no easy way for it to move products to international markets.

Roads from one country to the next are often in disrepair, washed out by floods, or dotted with costly checkpoints, Geldof said. The result is a long and often expensive journey in which each border crossing leaves both producer and transporter with a diminished profit margin. “By the time you get to your ports with your goods, they’ve been outpriced by the market, and the price that you have to charge isn’t worth it,” Geldof concluded.

Link to full article. May expire in future.

Geldof's tackle poverty plea to G8

from the Press Association via Google

Bob Geldof called on world leaders meeting at the G8 summit in Japan to honour their promise to the poor.

The anti-poverty campaigner said some good work was coming out of the conference but added that rich nations were falling well short on commitments made three years ago at Gleneagles.

His comments came as Gordon Brown prepared for crunch talks with fellow world leaders in a bid to secure support for his plans to boost aid to Africa and curb soaring oil prices.

A fresh commitment to meet previous aid pledges and radical plans to end petrol dependency are top of the UK's agenda at the G8 summit - Mr Brown's first as Prime Minister.

Intense discussions between the leading industrialised nations will focus on the poor state of the world economy - including the impact of soaring oil and food prices.

The Prime Minister wants them to use the opportunity to reaffirm a commitment made at the 2005 Gleneagles summit to double international aid, notably to Africa, by 2010.

But Geldof indicated that leading industrialised countries were already off target with regard to their pledge.

In an interview with the BBC, he said: "This is the halfway point to 2010, which is when the Gleneagles promise comes up, and they should be 50% of the way there but in fact they are 14% of the way there."

As to the current summit, Geldof said things were progressing in a "G8-ish" way. He added: "Some stuff has come out - there has been some good stuff. The Europeans have come up with one billion dollars for the food crisis, for agriculture - that is a good response. There is also talk of an aggravated 10 billion to deal with this as well.

Link to full article. May expire in future.

Geldof and Clinton team up for African education project

from the Daily India

London, June 30: Sir Bob Geldof has joined forces with former U.S. president Bill Clinton to launch a 4.7 million pounds campaign for the education of children in Africa.

The pair hopes that the project will provide more access to schools for 1.2 million children in Malawi and Rwanda.

The funds are expected to pay for the building of four new training centres and 4,000 teachers to help give African kids a better start in life.

"We are trying to make a hole in the huge need Rwanda and Malawi have for primary teachers," The Sun quoted Clinton, as saying.

Link to full article. May expire in future.

Bono, Geldof hammer G8 for aid "disgrace"

from Africasia

High profile rockers-turned-campaigners Bob Geldof and Bono on Wednesday hammered G8 countries for falling far behind in aid pledges to Africa and urged France to take a stand as next EU president to end the "disgrace".

Flanked by French tennis star Yannick Noah and Benin singer Angelique Kidjo, the pair of Irish rock'n'roll aid icons said a 2005 pledge by G8 nations to deliver an extra 22 billion dollars to Africa by 2010 was currently only 14 percent fulfilled.

"It is a disgrace that the rich world has failed so miserably," said Geldof. "It is a disgrace that the lucky part of the world give a small fraction of its wealth to poor who live just 12 kilometres away," he said, referring to the smallest distance between Europe and Africa.

With French aid to Africa cut back last year and the country due to take on the key post of rotating European Union presidency next month, President Nicolas Sarkozy had a special role to play, the campaigners said.

"European credibility is on the line," Bono said.

Yet aid reaching the world's poorest continent was making a measurable difference on the ground, the celebrity activists said.

Around 100,000 African lives a month now were being saved through programmes run by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, said its executive director Michel Kazatchkine.

Increased assistance meant more than two million Africans were on life-saving AIDS medication against only 50,000 five years ago, while 29 million children had entered school for the first time between 1999 and 2005.

"This is a continent that is going to take off," said Bono, referring to Africa's six percent annual growth rate.

"We are their neighbours, we should be their partners. If we fail, we have no right to that special relationship."

Ireland had done well out of aid, as had Germany and France, he added. "Aid is a necessary foundation for the building-blocks of the 21st century," said the U2 frontman.

Both Bono and Geldof were in Japan recently to urge Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda to recapture Tokyo's position as the global leader in overseas development as the next G8 summit approaches in July in Hokkaido.

France's Sarkozy too, whom the pair have met several times, "could be a great help to us" in his six months at the EU helm, Bono said.

But as the country that propelled human rights onto the world stage, France must dig into its own pocket too to help Africa.

While Britain and the United States were on course to meet their G8 commitments, and Germany had taken difficult steps, France needed to pump up its aid flows "in the next few weeks so we can say we have at least half of the G8 on course," Bono said.

Angola lashes out at Bob Geldof

from The Times South Africa

LUANDA - Angola’s deputy prime minister has lashed out at Irish rock star turned political activist Bob Geldof over his claims that the southern African nation is run by criminals, state radio reported yesterday.

Aguinaldo Jaime said Geldof’s comments, made at a sustainable development conference held in Lisbon on Tuesday, were "unfortunate and disrespectful."

Geldof, the organiser of the mammoth Live Aid and Live 8 concerts who was knighted for his efforts to fight poverty, told the conference that Angola was a country "run by criminals."

He slammed the oil-rich, yet poverty-stricken southern African nation for building houses in the Bay of Luanda that were more luxurious than those in the exclusive Chelsea and Park Lane neighbourhoods of London.

"He showed total disrespect for Angolan people and the remarks are unfortunate," Jaime told Angolan radio station RNA. "He does not know Angolan reality. He does not know (for instance) that Angola’s government has invested heavily in the construction of affordable social houses."

The deputy prime minister added that the houses Geldof was referring to were built by private companies and that the Angolan government could not be held responsible for the prices.

An official with Imogestin, the real estate company that runs government’s social housing programme told AFP on condition of anonymity that some supposedly affordable houses "go for 180,000 (US Dollars), still out of reach for most Angolans."

Geldof unveils African trade plan

from The BBC

By Konstantin Rozhnov
Business reporter, BBC News

Poverty campaigner Bob Geldof and Africa advocacy group Data have introduced an African Trade Initiative ahead of the EU-Africa summit.

Its aim is "to ensure that Africa is able to grow through increased exports and regional trade".

But Data argues European Union is "rushing" Africa into "potentially unfair" trade agreements.

Mr Geldof also told the BBC that the developed world had failed to deliver its promises on Africa.

"The initiative emphasizes the urgent need for further opening of EU and US markets to African products, reform of subsidies that harm African producers and enhanced aid for trade commitments that address Africa's supply-side challenges," Data said.

Trade agreements

Among other things, the African Trade Initiative highlights EU efforts to introduce new trade deals with former Europe's colonies in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific.

Critics of the EU's trade agreements are gambling with livelihoods in the developing world
Peter Mandelson and Louis Michel, EU commissioners
These Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) are set to replace earlier preferential trade agreements that linked the EU and a lot of its trading partners but have been ruled illegal by the World Trade Organization and expire at the end of the year.

Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda accepted EPA earlier this week.

Peter Mandelson, the EU trade commissioner, and Louis Michel, the EU development commissioner, have written in The Guardian that "critics of the EU's trade agreements are gambling with livelihoods in the developing world".

Aid for trade

But opponents argue EPA could damage some of the world's poorest countries, as their markets will be opened to unfair competition from EU.

It's time for the Old Economies to come to Africa
Bob Geldof
"The African countries that have signed will get 100% access to EU markets, but in return they have had to agree to specific tariff reductions on EU products," Data said .

Mr Geldof also said that "we should not enforce trade liberalization on the poor".

Trade is the key to deal with the extreme poverty, but it is not happening because Africa's commodity-based economies are not attracting enough money, he said.

Mr Geldof thinks the developed countries should protect Africa through "aid for trade" scheme as US did for Europe after the WWII, and it will "stop people dying on our TV screens".

The Old Economies used to be afraid of China, and now "people are excited about prospects of China and India", he said.

INTERVIEW-EU must give Africa more time on trade deals-Geldof

from Reuters Alert Net

By Ingrid Melander

BRUSSELS, Nov 29 (Reuters) - The European Union must give Africa more time to negotiate fair trade deals or it will jeopardise chances of a better relationship that both continents need badly, aid activist Bob Geldof said on Thursday. "There is a great opportunity for both out there, a great opportunity to arrange our priorities next week," the Irish rocker said in a telephone interview a week ahead of the Dec. 8-9 EU-Africa summit in Lisbon, the first in seven years.

"The way to do this is not to offer a Damoclean sword over their heads...if we fail to recognise that in Lisbon, we'll make a catastrophic turn-of-the century historic mistake," Geldof said.

The EU says it needs to clinch new trade deals with African, Caribbean and Pacific countries before a World Trade Organisation waiver on current preferential arrangements expires on Dec. 31. EU officials said on Thursday time was running out.

So far only a handful of countries in eastern and southern Africa have agreed deals. Others in Western and Central Africa have resisted, fearing they will expose their economies to too much competition.

"They do have other options," Geldof said, adding that the wealthy 27-nation European Union should ask the WTO for an extension of the current deals.

Fragile African nations need more time to make sure their economies will not be destroyed by imports from Europe and more aid and more help to boost trade with neighbours, Geldof said.

He said the EU should bear in mind growing competition from commodities-hungry China in Africa when it decides how to handle its trade talks with its former colonies.

"We cannot be dependent on Russian gas and oil... What is the other alternative for a resource-poor continent like Europe? A resource-rich one like Africa," Geldof said.

The EU is Africa's largest trading partner with trade totalling more than 200 billion euros ($296 billion) last year. But China leapt into third place in 2006 with 43 billion euros and has stepped up investments.

The rising influence of China is one of Europe's biggest fears in its relation with former African colonies.

It is also one of the main reasons for deciding to hold this summit, which diplomats hope will not be overshadowed by the trade talks or the attendance of Zimbabwe's controversial leader Robert Mugabe.

"We have had an opportunity to do what China is doing for 50 years and we did not do it, we insisted on all sorts of conditions," Geldof said, complaining of bureaucracy and strings attached to EU aid to Africa.

Bob Geldof at Helsinki seminar: poverty can be eliminated only through trade

from Helsingin Sanomat

Musician and Third World advocate addresses business seminar in Helsinki

Rock musician Bob Geldof, a renowned as an advocate of the poor in Africa, was in Helsinki on Tuesday to speak about corporate responsibility to executives in a special event organised by Helsingin Sanomat and the development cooperation organisation Plan.

"Business goes to wherever there is business", Geldof told Helsingin Sanomat before the seminar. He backed up his views with a long list of figures.

Whereas the developing world needs direct foreign investment of about 40 per cent, the figure in Africa is generally two to three per cent. "If we exclude investments into the mining industry, the figure is 0.5 per cent", Geldof says.
"The situation is tragic."

Poverty can be eliminated only with the help of trade, Geldof says. In his view, products from the developing world should be given better access to the markets of the West, and African countries should be allowed to refine their own raw materials, so that the value of their foreign trade might grow. The support that Western countries give to their own industries distort trade, and Geldof feels that they should be eliminated.

"Europe absolutely needs African products. For instance, we must not be dependent on Russian energy: it would be political suicide."

Geldof emphasises that Africans have not caused global warming and the massive problems that result from it. He feels that it is a "cosmic injustice" that global warming affects Africa disproportionately, as the poorest have hardly any means of protection, as climate change chases millions of people from their homes.

Geldof emphasises that developed countries must not use the climate issue to block the development in the poorest countries.

Bob Geldof appeals to the selfish motivations of potential aid-givers. "Tourists at Spanish holiday destinations favoured by Finland as well come face to face with African refugees", Geldof points out. "Many of them die on our shores. If we want to prevent social upheaval in Europe, we must help the Africans stabilise their conditions and to get their economy onto a stable foundation."

Geldof does not declare himself to be an optimist, or a pessimist.:
"I am a pragmatist. I have a very practical attitude toward things", he says. "If one thinks consistently and logically, one understands that globalisation is an organic economic model. In 40 years at the latest, if not before, Africa will be linked up with the world's economic network."

At Tuesday's seminar invited guests discussed matters including whether or not a successful company can afford to show responsibility.

Geldof pointed out in his presentation, that more than ten million Chinese - one per cent of the population - will be lifted out of poverty because of trade. Strong economic growth is also helping people in Mexico and Brazil get out of poverty.

Geldof emphasised the importance of individual rights such as democracy and equality. However, ne feels that there is no point telling a child living in abject poverty about such rights, if the child's main concern is whether or not he or she gets enough to eat this evening.

He was especially critical of the agricultural subsidies paid by rich countries. He noted that cattle farmers in Finland get about 2.5 US dollars a day in EU agricultural subsidies, which would be a large sum in the poor countries.

He expressed amazement at the high taxes paid in EU countries, where the money is then used to boost surplus production of agricultural goods.

Music also has an important significance in the fight against poverty. In Britain the punk movement was both a musical style and a way to tell those in power about unsatisfactory conditions.

Since the 1980s bob Geldof has been active in promoting the cause of the poor and hungry in Africa.

Geldof said on Tuesday that the previous time that he was in Finland, he spent a night in a police jail. This time, he had no such problems - "I understand that corruption is at a very high level in Finland", he said, to the amusement of his audience.

Geldof says China invests in Africa irresponsibly

from Yahoo News

HELSINKI (Reuters) - China is behaving irresponsibly in its trade relations with Africa and should better adhere to international standards, rights activist and Irish rocker Bob Geldof said on Tuesday.

The anti-poverty campaigner told a corporate aid event in Finland China's philosophy was mercantilist -- based entirely on money without regard for political stability or the welfare of African people.

"They are everywhere, they invest huge amounts of money -- it's very positive for some of the countries, but negative for others," he said.

"There is a danger because that's naive and it's disingenuous. They're now a major power and they must behave to international standards."

China is Africa's third-largest trading partner, exporting $16.4 billion (8 billion pounds) worth of goods and services in the first six months of 2007, up 49 percent from a year earlier, China's Commerce Ministry said in August.

China's direct outbound investment in Africa reached $480 million in the same period.

Geldof said China was exacerbating some of the continent's most difficult problems, including Darfur and Zimbabwe.

"The Chinese want the oil, they don't want anything interfering with the Khartoum government, so they give free guns to the Sudanese army," he said, adding 6 percent of Chinese oil was coming from Sudan, which makes up 60 percent of the country's production.

Geldof said money and resources were also the driving force behind China's support of Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, criticised by analysts for driving a once thriving economy into the ground and frightening off foreign investment.

Deepali Khanna, East and Southern Africa regional director of grassroots organisation Plan International, said China could help stabilise the situation in Africa if it wanted to, especially in Sudan.

"China could be playing a much more pivotal role -- China wants whatever is convenient for them and lets the rest of the world keep fighting over Darfur," she said.

"But the investment that's coming from China -- they could pull that out; they could be getting the equilibrium right, but they are not. They're making the government much more arrogant in wanting to do things they have been doing so far."

Geldof and Khanna spoke at a seminar challenging the corporate sector to get more involved in the continent.

The musician said Europe needed to give more in order for African countries to come closer to achieving the United Nations' objectives to halve poverty and achieve universal education by 2015 under its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

He said meeting those goals was impossible under the present conditions.

"Uganda will probably make the child mortality figures, some African countries will make the education figures, but if you look at immunization for all, if you look at the AIDS figures ... Africa will miss all the Millennium Development Goals," he said.

With Live8, Geldof urges G8 to stamp out poverty

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By Paul Majendie

LONDON - Twenty years after Live Aid, Bob Geldof wants to change the world again, not by fund-raising for famine relief but by staging a concert to pressure world leaders into eradicating African poverty.

Geldof, dubbed "Saint Bob" for organising the 1985 concert to save the starving in Ethiopia, is to announce the line-up on Tuesday for Live8, a July 2 concert designed to influence the G8 group of industrialised nations' summit in Scotland.

"There is more than a chance that the boys and girls with guitars will finally turn the world on its axis," the dishevelled Irish rock star said.

Geldof's powers of persuasion -- his Irish charm is matched only by his penchant for expletives -- have ensured pop fans will be treated to a stellar cast for the concert, expected to be held in London.

The phones have been ringing as incessantly as they did 20 years ago, with Geldof seeking to persuade musicians to take part. Sting accepted, saying Geldof was a man who did not take no for an answer.

The event is expected to feature Irish rockers U2 and former Beatle Paul McCartney, who performed at the 1985 concerts which raised over $100 million for African famine relief.

The Rolling Stones, Eminem and Madonna could also appear and Pink Floyd and The Spice Girls may even re-form for the show.

RALLY TO PRESSURE LEADERS

In 1985, Geldof was shaking his collection bowl as aid agencies raced to save the dying in Ethiopia.

This time he wants to galvanise the world's richest nations into action against African poverty.

Prime Minister Tony Blair has campaigned to help Africa during Britain's presidency of the G8 this year and will host G8 leaders at a summit in Gleneagles in Scotland in July.

But campaigners fear discord between G8 nations on debt reduction and aid spending plans, combined with reluctance in Washington, will wreck Blair's ambitions.

They warn African schools and hospitals could receive no new money from the lavish summit, which could cost as much as 100 million pounds ($180 million) to stage.

"We are really concerned that we're a long, long way away from any kind of breakthrough on tackling poverty in Africa," said Oxfam policy adviser Max Lawson. (Additional reporting by Jeremy Lovell and Madeline Chambers)

Bob Geldof confirms plans for star-studded concert against poverty

The National Post

LONDON - Live Aid founders Bob Geldof and Midge Ure said Thursday they were planning a star-studded concert to fight poverty in Africa - but insisted it wouldn't be Live Aid Mark 2.

Rumours have swirled for weeks that a Live Aid sequel will be held in London's Hyde Park in early July, days before leaders of the world's richest nations meet for a G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland. Madonna, U2, Paul McCartney and a reunited Spice Girls have all been mentioned in the possible lineup.

"I can say there's never going to be a Live Aid II but there's something brewing," Ure said Thursday at the Ivor Novello songwriting awards ceremony in London.

"It's big. And it's as petrifying as the buildup to Live Aid, if not more so. We'll have all the biggest names we can find. But it's not just about big names, it's about making a point."

Geldof and Ure received a Novello award for last year's remake of their 1984 charity single Do They Know It's Christmas? That song and the 1985 Live Aid concerts in London and the United States raised millions for Ethiopian famine victims.

Geldof has continued to campaign against poverty in Africa, and British Prime Minister Tony Blair has made aid to the continent one of the key themes for Britain's leadership of the G8 this year.

"Once more into the breach," Geldof said. "What started 20 years ago is coming to a political point in a few weeks.

"There's more than a chance that the boys and girls with guitars will finally get to turn the world on its axis and I need you there with us."

While details remain under wraps, one star confirmed Thursday he would be participating.

"Bob called me up and said I was doing it," Sting said at the Novello awards. "He doesn't ask you, he tells you," he said Thursday.

Make Poverty History Campaign

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On Monday May 16 in the Scottish Parliament, Bob Geldof condemned the world's wealthiest nations as a "complete and utter disgrace" for going back on their promises. The Make Poverty History campaign is gathering pace ahead of the G8 summit.

The statistics tell a shocking story. Nearly half the world's population lives in poverty. Thirty thousand children die every day because they are poor and average life expectancy in Africa is getting shorter, not longer. Clearly the G8 has a lot of work to do.

At the Gleneagles summit in July, the leaders of the world's richest countries will promise to reduce poverty, debt and disease. But there are many who are saying we have heard it all before. They are part of a growing campaign to put pressure on the politicians to do more than just talk.

Make Poverty History has brought together over 400 organisations and enlisted the help of an array of celebrities who've made trade justice and debt relief ultra hip. The campaign will culminate in a mass rally in Edinburgh just before the summit.

Mary Cullen from Make Poverty History said: "Poverty is in a sense man made, and so we make these rule, we can unmake the rules, we can change it so we do believe it is possible as Nelson Mandela said to make poverty history along with apartheid and along with slavery."

But will celebrities and demos really make a difference? Charlotte Ebba is an asylum seeker from the Ivory Coast living in Glasgow. She does not think the campaign will change the way the West treats Africa.

She said: "If they want to make poverty history, they can do it by giving the resources, doing fair trades, let African people decide about how and where to send the resources."

Scottish entrepreneur Tom Hunter was initially sceptical too but he now believes the campaign could succeed. He said: "All it needs is the will. If this was happening in Scotland, you know, 30,000 people a day - it's half of Ayr today, half of Kilmarnock tomorrow. If these things were happening in our backyard, our politicians would do something about it today."

The campaign's white wristbands have become a bit of a fashion statement for young people, but the serious message does seem to have got through. The organisers expect upwards of 100,000 people will go on the march, many of them won't have demonstrated before. They hope the strength of feeling will make the politicians take notice.