Shaken G-8 issues Africa, climate pledges

updated 1:06 p.m. ET July 8, 2005

GLENEAGLES, Scotland - World leaders wrapping up an economic summit shaken by terrorism agreed Friday to aid packages for Africa and Palestinians but failed to agree on stronger action to curb global warming, instead pledging a new round of talks in November.

In a separate joint statement on terrorism, the leaders pledged to new joint efforts to combat terrorism in light of the London bombings. Among those commitments was cooperating in ways to improve the safety of rail and subway travel.

“We speak today in the shadow of terrorism, but it will not obscure what we came here to achieve,” British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the summit host, said to close the Group of Eight gathering. “It isn’t all that everyone wanted but it is progress, real, achievable progress.”

With a last-minute pledge from Japan, Blair won a key victory from world leaders, announcing that aid to Africa would rise from the current $25 billion to $50 billion. Japan pledged to increase overseas aid by $10 billion over the next five years.

Blair ticked off a list of accomplishments from a meeting that nonetheless produced less than he had hoped for.

Aside from the massive increase in aid for the African continent, leaders signaled support for new deals on trade, canceling the debt of some of the world’s poorest nations, universal access to AIDS treatment, and a strong peacekeeping force in Africa.

'A beginning, not an end'
“All of this does not change the world tomorrow — it is a beginning, not an end,” Blair said, with President Bush and the other G-8 leaders and the leaders of five African nations standing behind him. “And none of it today will match the same ghastly impact as the cruelty of terror. But it has a pride and a hope and humanity at its heart that can lift the shadow of terrorism and light the way to a better future.”

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo thanked the G-8 leaders for focusing on Africa and for “their resolve not to be diverted by these terrorist acts.”

Anti-poverty groups praised the pledge to double aid for Africa but said the increases should be made more quickly, given the number of Africans dying of poverty and disease.

“The G-8’s aid increase could save the lives of 5 million children by 2010 — but 50 million children’s lives will still be lost because the G-8 didn’t go as far as they should have done,” said Jo Leadbeater, head of policy for British-based Oxfam International.

Irish rock star Bono, who worked to mount the global Live 8 concerts last weekend to pressure the G-8 leaders, called the announcement “extremely meaningful” and said “a mountain has been climbed.”

Blair said the Palestinian aid package would total up to $3 billion “in the years to come.” However, the summit communique said the support would be up to $3 billion per year over the coming three years for a total of up to $9 billion. Faryar Shirzad, Bush’s representative to the G-8, said the $9 billion figure was correct and a British official said the communique had the best explanation of the Palestinian aid.

Blair, however, lost in his push to get all summit countries to commit to boosting foreign aid to an amount equal to 0.7 percent of national income by 2015. Instead, a summit document said the European Union had agreed to that support but did not mention the United States.

Bush had refused to be bound by the 0.7 percent target. The United States is currently giving 0.16 percent of national income, the smallest percentage of any of the G-8 countries.

The leaders, struggling to keep to their mission in the aftermath of deadly bombings that rocked London’s rush hour on Thursday, shortened the final day of their summit to allow Blair to rush back to lead a government panel dealing with the blasts.

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