ETHIOPIA: Live Aid founder Bob Geldof shocked the international aid community yesterday by praising President Bush's administration as one of Africa's best friends in its fight against AIDS and famine.
"You'll think I'm off my trolley when I say this, but the Bush administration is the most radical . . . in approach to Africa since Kennedy," Geldof told The Guardian during a visit to Ethiopia.
Geldof said President Bush's predecessor, Mr Bill Clinton, had talked passionately about Africa, but done little, while the European Union had provided a "pathetic and appalling" response to the continent's humanitarian crisis.
On Tuesday, Mr Bush signed into law a $15 billion plan to help fund the fight against AIDS in Africa and the Caribbean.
But critics said the plan fell far short of what was needed.
Christian Aid trade campaigner Mr Andrew Pendleton said there were always strings attached with aid.
"The Bush administration have increased massively the subsidies that they give to US farmers so there will be huge amounts of cheap surplus food available," he said.
"That makes it harder for African farmers to compete." Mr Justin Forsyth, Oxfam's director of campaigns and policy, said Geldof's comments should not be taken out of context.
"The harm that trade rules do to the developing world is worth much more to African countries than the American aid budget will ever be." - (Reuters)