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Bono, O'Neill Arrive in Ghana to Start African Tour

Aired May 21, 2002 - 10:18   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Time now to catch up with my colleague, Daryn Kagan, who is out on assignment for us in Africa all this week. She has got an exclusive report for us on the pair they call the odd couple of international aid.

U.S. treasury secretary, Paul O'Neill, and Irish rock star Bono. They are on a four country trip to Africa calling attention to that continent's long list of problems, and they are trying to improve the international aid efforts by the developed nations themselves.

Now, as we said, Daryn has been travelling with them, and we believe we have her right now on the phone, calling us now from Accra, Ghana -- Daryn, are you there? I think I hear you breathing.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Leon. Matzi (ph). That is how you say good morning in Akan (ph), one of the local languages here. Can you hear me?

HARRIS: I can hear you loud and clear. Good to hear you finally, partner. How is it going?

KAGAN: Well, we are having some technical challenges. It has been interesting to bring our Western ways into Ghana, but it has been fascinating. This is our first full day here in Accra. It took about 28 hours of travel from Atlanta to get here, and along the way, as you mentioned, we picked up U.S. treasury secretary Paul O'Neill and rock star Bono. And whereas travel is not that fun to do that (ph), it is pretty fun when you get to travel with these guys, and I hope you can see from the pictures that we sent back. I had the chance to, for the first time, sit down with them together. They haven't done this before, where they sit down and give an interview together. You wouldn't know that these guys haven't been friends for years. They are very different, very different. Here is the best way to explain how different they are. There were two destinations. When we met up in Frankfurt, the treasury secretary was coming from Bucharest, where he was at a meeting of finance ministers. Bono was coming from New York. He spent the weekend at a bachelor party for Edge, and if you know U2, you know that is the lead guitarist for the band. So, they are coming from different places, but they see the need to bring attention to the problems and the people of Africa. They come from a very similar place in that, and it is a lot of fun to see them interact and fascinating to see them talk about these different issues.

HARRIS: Daryn, why Accra, Ghana as the first stop on this trip here? They are going to go hit the four nations, as you say.

KAGAN: Good question. One of the challenges that Paul O'Neill put to Bono was take me to places where aid work and where future aid and development will work. Ghana is one of just a few democracies here in Africa, and about a year and a half ago, they had a peaceful transfer of power when one president took office from another. Of course, in the U.S., we just take that for granted, but here in Africa, as far as that, that is a huge deal. They are taking us around to different places where you are seeing investment work. This morning, we went by a data processing center for Aetna insurance, so you could be going to the doctor in Chattanooga, turn in your Aetna insurance card, guess what? It is getting beamed over here to Accra and being processed by people who are being educated and been given jobs and a chance to work and improve their lives.

HARRIS: Interesting. Interesting. Well, give us -- can you give us an idea of what you have been able to see so far? Have you had a chance to tour much of the town or much of the city or the countryside there?

KAGAN: Well, just give you an idea of the time difference. We are four hours ahead of the East coast time, so it is about 2:20 here, and this morning, as I mentioned, we went to the computer processing center, and had a chance to drive across town. And then obviously, something that I know you can appreciate, we spent a few hours inside a Ghana broadcasting center trying to feed you that tape.

HARRIS: I saw that process. I saw that process, and not all of it looked very pretty.

KAGAN: They patch things through a little bit differently than we do at CNN, so I think -- and can you tell me this, I think we got back some of the pictures, but we haven't gotten back the entire interview. So I must admit that a big picture of what I have seen of Ghana is going to be inside of the Ghana broadcasting system so far.

HARRIS: OK. Got you. That's pretty much all that we have seen so far. Well, give us an idea -- before we let you go, give us an idea of what you are going to be taking care of today. Any other places you are going to get out to and see or what?

KAGAN: Yes, Accra is known for its incredible markets and shopping and crafts, so we are going to get out there and see that. And tomorrow we are going to the northern part of the country. We will be here a couple days, and then we head to Pretoria, South Africa. And I tell you, keeping up with Bono and Paul O'Neill, you need a lot of energy because these are two men on the go, with a big mission.

HARRIS: Well, it is clear that Bono has been there before. What kind of a tour guide is he?

KAGAN: He is an excellent tour guide. He has his people here too, and he is passionate. He came to Africa for the first time in the 80s, and fell in love with the people and the cause. Both men were able to explain to me how they fit really well together. Bono is the dreamer, he is the passionate one, and Paul O'Neill says he is the do guy, he knows how to make things happen. So, Paul O'Neill wants to show Bono the complexities of what takes place, because, of course, there are no simple answers for the problems facing Africa. So, he wants to call on Bono's passion and his goodwill, and the way he has been thinking outside the box.

HARRIS: All right. So we have got a dreamer there, a doer, and you will be the seer and the talker. You will be seeing and talking to us all about it.

KAGAN: And hopefully a show-er if we can get our equipment working a little bit better.

HARRIS: You got it. We will let you sneak off and do that. Daryn Kagan, all right. Good to hear you, partner. Take care of yourself over there. Daryn as we said is in Ghana for right now. She is going to be there for the next couple of days.

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