Minnesotan to deliver keynote speech at National Prayer Breakfast

WASHINGTON — Ward Brehm, a Minnesotan who chairs the United States African Development Foundation, will deliver the keynote speech at the annual National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday.

He will follow in the footsteps of past speakers such as rock star Bono and Mother Teresa. President Bush also plans to address the gathering, as does Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., who will deliver a prayer for world leaders.

The U.S.-African Development Foundation is a government agency that makes direct investments in Africa, and whose goal is to help the poor through business development and job creation. Brehm is also chairman of the Brehm Group in Minneapolis, a national insurance consulting firm. He did not return telephone messages left Thursday.

This year's breakfast is expected to bring about 4,000 people from 140 countries, said Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., who is co-chairing the breakfast with Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo. Salazar said Brehm was selected because of his work in helping the poor and downtrodden in Africa.

"He has spent a lifetime trying to deal with the chronic disease of AIDS, and been very instrumental in living out his faith through the deeds he's done to help other people," Salazar said.

He added that Brehm is a good friend of Enzi, who suggested Brehm as a speaker. Enzi's office declined to comment ahead of the speech, in keeping with the tradition of not identifying the keynote speaker until the morning of the prayer breakfast.

Two years ago, Minnesota Republican Senator Norm Coleman made history by becoming the first Jewish person in memory to co-chair the breakfast, which is staged every year by the Fellowship Foundation, an evangelical Christian group.

"I know Ward Brehm as both a friend and a supporter, but what I know him best as is an unyielding advocate for Africa's poor," Coleman said. "It's fitting that Ward Brehm has the honor of being the first Minnesotan to deliver the keynote address at the National Prayer Breakfast and I congratulate him."

In a recent opinion piece in the Star Tribune of Minneapolis, Brehm wrote about the need for altruistic leadership to take root in Africa. In Kenya, more than 1,000 people have died since a December election which foreign and local observers say was rigged. The election returned President Mwai Kibaki to power for a second five-year term.

"The 'cure' for Kenya, and indeed for all of Africa, is to democratically elect leaders with good hearts. There are wonderful bastions of both hope and promise in Africa," he wrote, citing countries such as Rwanda, Ghana, Liberia and Tanzania.

"Recent history in these countries demonstrates that it doesn't take generations or even decades to transform nations but rather a few years."

According to his U.S.-African Development Foundation biography, Brehm has traveled to Africa 30 times over the last 15 years, and had led teams of American businessmen and members of Congress.

He's been involved in peace and reconciliation initiatives in Burundi, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the biography says.