G8 Summit Starts On Weak Foot With Pop Diplomacy

by Sanjay Suri

(IPS) -- Intense negotiations began straightaway on the first day of the Group of Eight summit -- not amongst the G8 leaders, but between pop stars and the heads of state.

U.S. President George W. Bush, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin found themselves in earnest talks on African development with rock stars Bob Geldof and Bono within hours of arrival at Scotland's Gleneagles golf resort for the three-day G8 summit.

Those conversations followed extensive talks between Geldof (of the former band Boomtown Rats, and organizer of the 1985 Live Aid concert), Bono (of the ever-popular Irish band U2) and British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Significantly, Blair, wearing an open-neck shirt, addressed a press conference alongside Bono and Geldof when everyone expected him to be playing host to the G8 leaders who already had arrived, and just minutes before Russian President Vladimir Putin was due to arrive.

British officials -- who had clearly failed to convince officials from the other G8 countries to adopt radical and substantive agreements either on fighting poverty in Africa, or on measures to contain climate change -- had clearly resorted to pop diplomacy in a last-ditch attempt.

In an unprecedented move, British leaders took the backseat for the day to present to G8 leaders direct representatives of "popular people power." The move meant also that the other G8 leaders would be seen to reject popular demands, rather than official British proposals.

After talks between the pop stars and the heads of G8 governments (United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and host Britain), Bono announced that the picture did not look good.

"We've had some very tough meetings here today," Bono said at a press conference after the meetings with Bush, Martin and Schroeder. "There is a risk that we may have no deal at the summit. A deal on 50 billion dollars (for Africa) is not there, a deal on trade is not there, the debt stuff is not there."

Bono seemed aware that he and Geldof were suddenly at the forefront of the G8 negotiations on day one of the July 6-9 summit, and that Blair was taking a chance here.

"Risks are being taken on both sides," he said. "Risks for U.S. being with political leaders, and risks for political leaders hanging out with us."

Bono said he and Geldof had been discussing the final declaration to be produced at the G8 summit. "We are trying to convince them that the communique has to be clear, though it does not have to be written by a songwriter."

And Bono had a warning in store for all G8 leaders. He spoke of the alternative ways of protest to those of the musicians and their rock concerts. "Like smashed cars and shop fronts, anger and rage," he said. "I think our way is better, but we don't know that yet. It will take a couple of days to find out."

Bono said that their meeting with the U.S. president had indicated that "Bush is ready to bite the bullet on subsidies if the EU does something." But, he said, "the debt stuff is critical." And channelling aid correctly is important: "We are not here to redecorate presidential palaces but to put food in peoples' bellies."

Bob Geldof said "this is a highly unusual G8" because "I don't think that leaders have ever arrived on the first day and found there is still no communique agreed on." There is still no deal, he said. "There is still a lot to play for. I have a sense of tension -- no complacency at all."

Geldof said Bush was "bullish" at their meeting. He had spoken of deals for halving malaria deaths in Africa, and "he was particularly insistent on girls' education." Bush had also indicated that "there could possibly be some language on trade."

But little could be expected of Germany, Geldof said following their meeting with the German Chancellor. Not at least until the next election, he said.

But with none of the leaders was there an expectation of any breakthrough on trade justice, Geldof said. "We are not going to get rid of agricultural subsidies at this summit," he said. "But we need to start the beginning of the end of that process."

The critical issue for the leaders over the rest of the summit is what would be "at the forefront of their conscience," Geldof said. "We are talking about 50,000 dead in Africa every day." Action over this will not come in Moscow, and it will not come in Germany, he said. "This really is it."

Through Saturday's Live 8 concerts -- held in each of the G8 countries, plus South Africa -- 3.8 billion people around the world had agreed that more should be done on Africa, he said. He spoke of Africa as "a continent in inexorable decline, which must be halted."

Geldof said the summit was turning out to be a last-minute game of poker. "The chips we are playing with are the lives of the people of Africa."