U2 Graffiti Wall

Nobel laureates crown U2's Bono "man of peace"
12 December 2008

PARIS - Nobel peace laureates gathered in Paris on Friday awarded the
Irish rocker-turned-<WBR>activist Bono an annual "Man of Peace" prize for
his crusade to tackle African debt, poverty and disease.

Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe, who hosted the event, handed the U2
frontman the Peace Summit Award in presence of five Nobel winners, in
recognition of two decades of global anti-poverty activitism.

"This is a very big award for me, because let's be honest this is as
close as I am going to get -- as close as a rock star is ever going to
get to the Nobel Peace Prize," the 48-year-old Bono quipped to the
audience.

"I am an over-awarded, over-rewarded rock star. You are the people who
do the real work," he told the Nobel winners present, who included
F.W. de Klerk of South Africa, Lech Walesa of Poland and Northern
Ireland's John Hume.

"So I am very, very pleased to be in such esteemed company."

Organisers said Bono was chosen for his global campaigning to persuade
rich nations to lighten Africa's debt burden, combat poverty, promote
fair trade and raise funds for the treatment of HIV-AIDS and malaria.

"We decided to nominate a man who has given a lot and will continue to
give a great deal to the struggle for human rights, to the fight
against poverty, with his music and with his words," said Italian left-
wing leader Walter Veltroni, co-host of the event.

"He has put pressure on the world's governments to reach the UN's
Millenium Goals. To give him the prize, is to say that fight will
carry on."

Last year's recipients of the peace award were US actors George
Clooney and Don Cheadle, who have spoken out against the violence in
Sudan's war-torn Darfur.

Nobel winners were meeting in Paris for a three-day summit, coinciding
with celebrations marking 60 years since the UN declaration of human
rights was adopted in Paris.

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev -- whose foundation co-
organises the annual event -- was unable to attend for medical reasons.

His spokesman said he was undergoing eye treatment.

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