G-8 leaders criticized over African aid
Eight of the world's richest countries opened their annual three-day summit Monday, facing criticism of having failed to keep previous pledges of aid for some of the poorest nations.
President Bush and the other leaders of the Group of 8 leading industrialized nations, meeting on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, were pressed by seven invited African leaders to honor commitments of health and development assistance to the continent, according to accounts of the sessions provided by U.S. officials.
Bush has made accountability of aid pledges a priority during his last G-8 summit.
At its 2005 gathering in Scotland, the group agreed to double aid by 2010 to $50 billion, with half to go to Africa. Critics say the G-8 has delivered just $3 billion of the $25-billion commitment to Africa.
Three hours of talks left the G-8 leaders and their African counterparts also divided on how to handle Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, who extended his long rule last month with an election victory marred by violence against his opponents.
The U.S. and British governments have proposed economic sanctions and an international arms embargo against the Mugabe government. But African leaders have rejected the sanctions appeal, calling instead for Mugabe to agree to a power-sharing arrangement with opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, who currently heads the African Union, said after private talks with Bush that Africa and the West shared concerns about the political violence in Zimbabwe, but differed on how to deal with it.
"I want to assure you that the concerns that you have expressed are indeed the concerns of many of us in the African continent," Kikwete said at a news conference with Bush. "The only area that we may differ is on the way forward."
The difficulty of resolving African issues underscored the challenge of reaching consensus on the broader global issues of rising food and fuel prices, as well as how to respond to climate change.
For critics, the G-8 is a club of nations that no longer has the economic clout to deal with issues that require the input of other governments, including large developing nations such as China and India and big oil producers such as Saudi Arabia. The G-8 comprises the United States, Japan, France, Britain, Germany, Canada, Italy and Russia. Discussions over the final two days of the summit will shift to global warming. Japan, as host, has urged G-8 members to agree to cut greenhouse gas emissions by half by 2050, a proposal resisted by Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The two countries say any binding accord must include China and India, whose leaders will take part in what the G-8 calls "outreach" discussions on Wednesday, the final day of the talks.
Despite the lowered expectations, the annual summits continue to offer world leaders a chance to snatch a few moments on the sidelines for reasonably informal talks. On Monday, Bush had his first meeting with Dmitry Medvedev, Russia's new president.
Bush described Medvedev as "a smart guy."
don.lee@latimes.com
