FAMOUS names ranging from rock star Bono to US President George W Bush called for action to fight poverty in Africa in a special edition today of one of Japan’s major newspapers.

Bono, visiting Japan for a major Africa development summit that closed yesterday, teamed up with fellow musician-activist Bob Geldof as guest editors of a supplement to the Asahi Shimbun, an influential liberal daily.

Mr Bush wrote that the July 7-9 summit of the Group of Eight major industrial powers, to be held in Japan, needed to take concrete action to tackle AIDS and other scourges afflicting Africa.

“My message to my fellow leaders will be that our past promises are just empty words unless we provide meaningful follow-through,” Mr Bush wrote.

“And if we do, we can continue to help save lives and spread hope across the continent of Africa.”

Mr Bush said the US was doubling aid to Africa by 2010 and highlighted a $US15 billion ($A15.7 billion) AIDS relief fund launched in 2003.

“These efforts rarely make headlines in the United States. But when you go to Africa, the difference we are making is visible,” he said.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, in the same newspaper, called for the G8 summit to commit money to expand education in Africa.

“The world cannot make a better investment than in the education of its children,” Brown said.

Bono urged Japan to use the G8 summit to push forward the goal of halving extreme poverty in the world by 2015.

The U2 frontman praised Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda’s pledge to double Japanese aid to Africa but regretted that Tokyo’s overall foreign assistance has been declining.

Highlighting Japan’s past aid across Asia, Bono appealed to the Japanese public to care more about Africa - and pointed to the growing rivalry with China, which has been making inroads into Africa.

Japan’s efforts “were critical in creating the Asian tigers and I am wondering if the same strategies applied to Africa might have similar results,” Bono said.

“Forget moral imperative for a moment,” Bono said.

“The Japanese I know do not like the fact that China is leaving them behind in Africa,” Bono wrote.

“They want to show the world what Japan stands for.”

- Adelaide Now

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