Rocker-turned-activist Bono has called for the creation of a United States of Africa, insisting a united continental identity could help the African nations to resolve their internal conflicts. The U2 frontman - who flew to Japan to participate in a major development conference last week (begs26May08) - has urged the country leaders in the continent to turn to the U.S. as an example of unification. A United States of Africa "would be the dream" in the long term, Bono told Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun on Tuesday . He says, "Irish people used to always have a little giggle when they would see Americans saluting their flags in schools, and then the whole lot standing there, singing the flag thing. "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." Inspired by the European Union, the African Union was created in 2002 - but critics say the order has lacked the money needed to take effective action in the continent's conflict. It intervened in the war-torn western Sudanese region of Darfur, but has since surrendered leadership to the United Nations in a bid to form a unified peacekeeping body.
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