Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2002. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2002. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Reuters NewMedia - Friday December 06, 2002
For nearly two weeks, the unlikely duo traveled through Africa exploring the desperate needs of the region and helping bring attention to the havoc wreaked there by the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
By the end of it, the two had formed a bond, forged of concern about Africa, that Bono recalled on Friday in the wake of O'Neill's resignation at the White House's request.
"I saw the AIDS emergency in Africa with Paul O'Neill. I saw his convictions," said Bono, who was in Cincinnati on a seven-state tour to boost awareness of Africa's AIDS plight.
"We will miss him but this administration is committed to continuing this fight," Bono said, adding that his own campaign will continue as usual. The lead singer for the U2 rock band was hitting churches, truck stops and universities to urge Americans to pay attention to Africa's woes and to help.
In Ghana, during a visit to a remote village of mud huts, O'Neill and Bono donned striped stocking caps as part of a tribal ritual, triggering a picture-taking frenzy that landed the two on newspaper pages around the world.
Occasionally the two clashed over O'Neill's insistence that aid dollars had to produce solidly measurable results, but both men showed clear concern about helping Africans and helped put a spotlight on the seriousness of the issue.
"We're demanding results so that ultimately we save more lives, we educate more children, and we help a continent not just to survive but to thrive," O'Neill said.
They ended the trip, in Ethiopia, in harmony. "He's the man," Bono said then, referring to O'Neill's ability to spread the message in Washington about the urgency of Africa's needs.
That may change now, with O'Neill heading out of Treasury. But the white-haired Treasury chief indicated then, at a session with reporters in Bono's company, that he might have his own plans for the future.
"I'm working on learning how to sing," O'Neill joked.
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