AFP:

TOKYO (AFP) — Pop star and activist Bono has called for the creation of a United States of Africa, saying that a pan-continental identity would serve as a catalyst for resolving its conflicts. The U2 frontman, who was in Japan to take part in a major development conference last week, said that a United States of Africa “would be the dream” in the long term. “I think a kind of broader African identity is going to be very important to deal with tribal tensions,” Bono told Tuesday’s Asahi Shimbun, where he served as a guest-editor for a special Africa edition on Saturday. The Irish rock star said that developing a broader identity may seem largely “poetic,” but has been proven successful. “Irish people used to always have a little giggle when they would see Americans saluting their flags in schools, and then the whole standing there, singing the flag thing,” Bono said. “But as you get to know a little bit more about things, you start to think, ah, there’s so many different tribal groups in the United States, that to create a national identity of that size, they had to really work at this kind of patriotism,” he said.