Bob Geldof has challenged the BBC to substantiate its report that millions raised for famine relief in Ethiopia were diverted to pay for weapons.
The campaigner, who led the Western relief effort in the 80s, said there was "not a shred of evidence" Band Aid or Live Aid money was siphoned off.

The report included claims 95% of the $100m (£66m) sent to the province of Tigray was used by rebels to buy arms.

The BBC World Service has said it stands by its report.

Mr Geldof told BBC One's Andrew Marr show he would personally sue the Ethiopian government and spend the money on aid if any evidence was produced.

'Credible voices'

He said: "Produce me one shred of evidence and I promise you I will professionally investigate it, I will professionally report it, and if there is any money missing I will sue the Ethiopian government for that money back and I will spend it on aid.

"There is not a single shred of evidence that Band Aid or Live Aid money was diverted in any sense, it could not have been."

The World Service report featured interviews with two former members of a rebel group who made the allegations dating from the mid-80s.

Gebremedhin Araya (L) says he posed as a merchant to get aid

They told the BBC they posed as merchants in meetings with charity workers to get aid money which they used to fund attempts to overthrow the government.
One rebel leader estimated that $95m (£63m) from Western governments and charities, including Band Aid, was diverted.
The CIA also alleged aid money was being misused.

A 1985 report from the crime agency concluded: "Some funds that insurgent organisations are raising for relief operations, as a result of increased world publicity, are almost certainly being diverted for military purposes."

Mr Geldof, who was speaking to the BBC from Nairobi, also said one of the sources quoted in the report was a "dissident political exile" who was "not credible".
The anti-poverty campaigner and the Band Aid Trust are reportedly taking their complaint to the broadcasting regulator Ofcom.


They and a number of other agencies, including Oxfam, the Red Cross, Christian Aid and Save The Children, are also writing to chairman of the BBC Trust, Sir Michael Lyons.

John Kennedy, a co-founder of the Band Aid Trust, said: "The trust is writing to the BBC and Ofcom to complain about the broadcast."
A Christian Aid spokeswoman confirmed it was planning to support the complaint.

Mr Whitehead, the news and current affairs editor at the World Service, said the BBC "stands by" its report.

Writing in the Editors blog on the BBC website, he stated: "It presents evidence, compelling evidence, that some of the famine relief donations were diverted by a powerful rebel group to buy weapons."

Mr Whitehead defended the journalist who made the documentary - the World Service's Africa editor Martin Plaut.

He wrote: "He has a particular expertise in the Horn of Africa, and indeed reported from there on the famine back in the 1980s. He has spent almost a year gathering material and doing research for this documentary - and the BBC stands by his journalism."

Mr Whitehead admitted the two former rebels quoted were "at odds" with their old leader, who is now prime minister of Ethiopia, but added: "They are credible voices".

He also said their claims were backed by a former US diplomat.

Source: BBC