UN to receive proceeds from John Lennon hit

John Lennon's family has agreed to donate all proceeds from downloads of the hit single "Give peace a chance" to UN peace initiatives, an official said Monday.

"We've made an agreement with (Lennon's widow) Yoko Ono and John Lennon's sons on November 3," Hector Munoz, Chilean ambassador to the UN and chairperson of the organisation's Peace Building Commission, told reporters.

"We are happy to announce that we'll be receiving the proceeds from all i-Tunes downloads on the 40th anniversary of the release of 'Give peace a chance'," he added.

Munoz is in the Ethiopian capital to hold talks with the African Union on "post-conflict peace building efforts," the bloc said.

Lennon enjoys iconic status 29 years after he was fatally shot by a fan outside his apartment in New York.