Uniting the countries of Africa in a similar way to the shared relationships between states in America would help reduce Africa’s tribal conflicts, according to U2 frontman Bono.

Writing in a special edition of the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun, Bono said that the creation of a United States of Africa "would be the dream" in the long term.

"I think a kind of broader African identity is going to be very important to deal with tribal tensions," Bono told the newspaper, where he edited a special supplement on the continent.

An African Union was established in 2002 but was criticised for poor funding and its inability to effectively intervene in the continents political and military struggles.

Speaking from his view as an Irishman, Bono wrote: "Irish people used to always have a little giggle when they would see Americans saluting their flags in schools, and then the whole 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 any 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.”

(by Jason Gregory)