Bono's African Tour is Eye-Opening

By Stephen M. Silverman

05/24/2002 at 10:00 AM EDT

The Odd Couple tour continues, with Irish rocker Bono, 42, and U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill stopping on Friday in Soweto as part of their 10-day fact-finding tour of economically depressed African areas, reports the Associated Press. The musician gave his usual sense of levity a rest when he and the official talked to reporters about their visit with a group of mothers infected with AIDS at a South African clinic. "This is very, very hard for an Irish rock star to admit," Bono said at the prenatal HIV clinic at the Chris Hani Baragwaneth hospital. "I'm actually speechless . . . This is an amazing place, amazing people." Some 4.7 million South Africans reportedly are infected with AIDS, and this visit was a chance for the two men to meet with some of the victims. Bono used the tactic of flattery to bring O'Neill around to his way of thinking and to pressure him publicly into providing additional aid money to Africa for the battle against HIV. As Bono, standing next to O'Neill, said about the secretary, "He is getting angrier by the day as he sees the great potential of this continent and how it is not being used."