Geldof praises Merkel for Germany's G8 presidency

Berlin - Germany's leadership over the past year of the Group of Eight (G8) saved hundreds of thousands of lives, aid activist Bob Geldof said in remarks published Wednesday. Speaking to the Thursday edition of the mass-circulation Bild newspaper, the former rockstar said: 'There is not a shadow of doubt that Germany, under the leadership of Chancellor (Angela) Merkel, saved hundreds of thousands of lives, and possibly even millions.' Geldof, who was strongly critical of Merkel and of the G8 as a whole at the end of the Heiligendamm summit in June this year, noted that Germany had substantially increased its aid budget this year. Germany, which hands the G8 presidency to Japan at the beginning of 2008, also organized a donor conference in Berlin for the Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, which raised almost 10 billion dollars. Geldof said that while expectations among aid organizations at the beginning of the year had been very low, it was now clear 'that understanding of Africa in politics, business and in the population has grown massively over the past 12 months.' He issued an appeal to Merkel to continue to press for assistance for Africa on the basis of Germany's moral authority. © 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

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