WORLD / Europe
G8 leaders pledge $60B to Africa to fight AIDS
(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-06-08 15:43
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi,
Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Nicolas Sarkozy,
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, U.S. President George W. Bush, Canadian
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso (L to R) pose for a
family photo in Heiligendamm June 7, 2007. [Reuters]
HEILIGENDAMM, Germany - World leaders meeting in Germany turned their
attention to Africa on Friday, agreeing a $60 billion pledge to fight
AIDS and other killer diseases ravaging the continent, according to a
diplomat.
"The issue is now fixed. The text is agreed," a diplomat from a Group of
Eight (G8) member country told Reuters during a summit of the club of
industrialised nations.
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"The agreement within the G8 will follow the US proposal to increase the
aid for fighting these diseases to $60 billion in the forthcoming years
with $30 billion coming from the US".
Merkel will make the deal public on the summit's final day after a
meeting with the heads of six African nations. Detail on the plans were
not available, making it hard to tell how much new money the deal
involves.
The G8 countries had wrangled late into Thursday night about specifics on
aid for Africa. They were expected to broadly recommit themselves to
pledges made at a 2005 summit in Scotland when they said they would
double development funding by 2010.
The $60 billion will be used to combat AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis,
global diseases that have been especially devastating for African peoples
and their economies.
Campaigners for Africa say the $60 billion pledge falls short of UN
targets for extending treatment to tackle disease.
Two leading campaigners, rock stars Bono and Bob Geldof, put pressure on
G8 summit host, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and her fellow leaders
from the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Italy, Japan and Russia.
"The chancellor has asked us to trust her and we are tempted, but we
cannot risk being let down by the G8 again," said Bono.
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