Rocker makes appeal for Africa at award ceremony

? Irish rocker Bob Geldof appealed for fair trade Thursday as he received a peace award in Rome that recognizes his campaigns against poverty.

Geldof, dressed in a striped suit, received the Man for Peace award from former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who heads the foundation that hands out the prize, and Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni.

“Africa must be allowed to trade itself out of poverty,” Geldof said during the ceremony on Rome’s Capitoline Hill.

He also joined those pressing for the European Union to cut tariffs on farm products ahead of next month’s World Trade Organization talks in Hong Kong.