Nelson Mandela dials up for HIV/AIDS

A new song performed by artists including Bono and commemorating Nelson Mandela's long imprisonment on Robben Island was launched on the web and telephone networks yesterday in the first phase of a global fund-raiser to rival Live Aid.

Mandela travelled to London to launch the song, called 46664 (Long Walk to Freedom) - his prison number and the title of his autobiography - and to make an impassioned appeal on behalf of this new initiative aimed at tackling HIV/AIDS.

The campaign, called "Give One Minute of Your Life to Stop AIDS", will encourage people around the world to dial a premium-rate number - 09060 1 46664 in the UK.

They will be greeted by a message from celebrities, including Robert de Niro, Bill Clinton, David Bowie and Britney Spears, and hear one of a number of new songs recorded by Bono, Dave Stewart and others.

Not only will the number raise money for the Nelson Mandela Foundation and its fight against HIV/AIDS, but callers will join a global petition asking politicians to increase their support for Africa.

The campaign will culminate in a concert in Cape Town on November 29. Bill Roedy, one of the business backers, said he hoped the new song would prove more successful than Bob Geldof's legendary Live Aid concert which was watched by 1.5 billion people in 1985 and raised £40 million for famine relief.

Mandela, 85, explained why he was, for the first time, allowing his prison number to be used to brand a campaign. "No longer is HIV/AIDS just a disease; it is a human rights issue. For the sake of Africa and the world, we must act and act now," he said.

"46664 was my prison number. For the 18 years, I was on Robben Island prison, I was known as just a number. Millions of people infected with HIV/AIDS are just that - a number. They, too, are serving a prison sentence for life."