G8 Agrees On $60 Billion Africa AIDS Plan

Today's first working session began without U.S. President George W. Bush, who skipped the morning meetings after falling ill.

The remaining seven leaders met with the presidents of the African countries of Egypt, Algeria, Senegal, Ghana, and Nigeria.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who presided over the G8 summit two years ago in Gleneagles, Scotland, said the group is also offering support for peacekeeping and trade.

"There's a $60 billion commitment on help for HIV/AIDS. There's a major initiative on education and additional funding for that. There's support for African peacekeeping, support...specifically for Africa's ability to trade its goods, and support, also, for proper governance," Blair said.

The eight countries also renewed a commitment made at the Gleneagles summit to progressively increase worldwide development aid by $50 billion per year by 2010. Half of that aid would go to Africa.

Obligations to Africa

German Chancellor Angela Merkel told journalists the G8 would continue to explore ways to increase general aid to Africa. "This was a fruitful, important discussion, and the message is: We are fully aware of our responsibilities, and we will fulfill our obligations," Merkel said.

Aid groups have strongly criticized the G8 for failing to come through on its pledges. Some campaigners today blamed the group for promising money which has already been announced.

The French humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders (MSF) came to the summit with the slogan, "You have medicine, but millions don't."

Tido von Schoen-Angerer, who runs MSF's Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines, cautiously welcomed today's aid pledge while speaking with RFE/RL correspondent Irina Lagunina.

"It's a very important pledge. But we have to see how that money is going to be used toward really achieving universal access to HIV treatment, whether it will be mostly spent on overpriced medicine. So there are a number of questions," von Schoen-Angerer said.

He added that the aid package leaves out some vital issues. "The first cause of death among people with HIV in Africa is tuberculosis. Last year, there was some discussion at the G8 about the need to develop some new vaccines. This has again dropped off the agenda," von Schoen-Angerer said.

Emissions Cuts, Without Targets

The summit has also seen a deal on climate change -- the summit's other main agenda point. The club of wealthy nations on June 7 agreed to seek "substantial" cuts in greenhouse-gas emissions in an effort to tackle global warming, but fell short of setting mandatory targets for emissions cuts.

G8 leaders today met with the heads of state from the so-called "G5" -- the Group of Five developing states that includes Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and South Africa.

They are also expected to comment on UN proposals for internationally supervised independence for the Serbian province of Kosovo.

French President Nicholas Sarkozy failed to win an agreement from fellow leaders on a compromise proposal to delay a Security Council vote on the proposals, which are supported by the United States and the United Kingdom, but have been criticized by Russia and China.

Today's meetings follow a surprise proposal by Russian President Vladimir Putin on June 7 that the United States use a radar station in Azerbaijan instead of building facilities in Poland and the Czech Republic.

The suggestion appeared to cool mounting tensions between Moscow and Washington over the U.S. plans to build an missile-defense system in Central Europe.

Heads of states are scheduled to hold a series of bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the summit, including Blair and Putin.

The meeting could be tense as relations between London and Moscow have been strained in recent months, notably over the poisoning death of former Russian security-service officer Aleksander Litvinenko in London.

RFE/RL's correspondent reports from Heiligendamm that Putin has been in close contact with Italian prime minister Romano Prodi, while Bush was mostly seen conversing with Blair.

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