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Africa pledge is a smokescreen, says Bono

Rueters reports: HEILIGENDAMM, Germany, June 8 (Reuters) - Rock star Bono denounced world leaders on Friday for producing a "deliberately misleading" pledge to fight AIDS and other killer diseases. "I am exasperated," Bono told Reuters in a telephone interview at the Baltic resort where leaders from the world's rich nations were rounding off their three-day summit. "I think it is deliberately the language of obfuscation. It is deliberately misleading," he added. G8 leaders announced a $60 billion pledge to fight AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis with great fanfare but many activists were disappointed that they failed to set a timetable for the spending plans and that it contained little new money. "They have taken language hostage. We wanted numbers but this is burobabble," Bono said, criticising the lack of a timeline and the fact that the pledge did not apply specifically to Africa. "It is not real in any language. We are looking for acco...