U2 FRONTMAN BONO has hit out at world leaders for their slow response to the Ebola crisis.
Arriving to record the latest Band Aid single in London, he said if they “kept the promises they make at these big G8 meetings and the like we wouldn’t have to be standing here”.
His comments came as G20 members gathering in Australia vowed to ”extinguish” the epidemic.
However, global leaders made no new pledges of cash.
One Direction, Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant, Coldplay’s Chris Martin and Sinead O’Connor were also among the stars brought together by Geldof today to sing the fourth version of “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”.
Musicians began arriving in the early morning and were expected to record all day and into the night before the single is aired for the first time tomorrow, and then officially released on Monday.
The Ebola outbreak has claimed more than 5,000 lives since last December, according to the World Health Organization — almost all in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone — while the number of infected cases registered worldwide has soared to more than 14,000.
“All pop singers can do is sing, write songs, give up whatever they’re doing,” Geldof told reporters and fans outside the Sarm Studios in Notting Hill.
He said owning the single would be “a badge of honour” to support efforts against the deadly virus and urged people to buy it “whether you like it or not”.
The song became one of the world’s biggest-selling singles ever after its release in 1984 to raise funds for famine relief in Ethiopia.
G20
In its statement today, the G20 members said they were “committed to do what is necessary to ensure the international effort can extinguish the outbreak and address its medium-term economic and humanitarian costs”.
They also welcomed the International Monetary Fund’s initiative to release €240 million to combat Ebola and promised to share best practices on protecting health workers on the frontline.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged “G20 countries to step up”, warning that Ebola’s disrupting effect on farming could potentially spark a food crisis for a million people.
“As rates decline in one area, they are rising in others. Transmission continues to outpace the response from the international community,” Ban told reporters.
Reporting from AFP. Editing by Daragh Brophy.
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