Bono, Beyonce Knowles, Jimmy Cliff, Peter Gabriel, Queen, The Corrs, Bob Geldof, and Ms Dynamite were among stars taking part Nelson Mandela's South Africa gig to boost the fight against Aids.

The five-hour concert was broadcast live on the web yesterday at www.46664.com.

Highlights included a duet between Bono and Beyonce on 'American Prayer', Peter Gabriel performing 'Biko' with the Soweto Gospel Choir and the remaining members of Queen who unveiled a new track, called 'Invincible Hope', that featured samples of Mr Mandela's voice. The song 'Long Walk To Freedom', written by Dave Stewart and the late Joe Strummer, was performed by Stewart and Bono.

Recorded messages were broadcast by Ex-US President Bill Clinton, Robert De Niro, Sir Ian McKellen and Annie Lennox.

The concert was organised to raise awareness of World AIDS day. Speaking to the crowd Mr Mandela said, "46664 was my prison number for the 18 years that I was imprisoned on Robben Island. I was supposed to be reduced to that number."

He added that, "millions of people infected with HIV and Aids are in danger of being reduced to mere numbers unless we act. They too are serving a prison sentence for life so I have allowed my prison number to help drive this campaign".

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