G8 Agreement on Africa Greeted with Disappointment

The G8 leaders have agreed to spend $60bn (£30bn) on fighting aids, malaria and TB on the closing day of the summit in Heiligendamm in Germany. It is thought that half of the money will come from the US.

|PIC1|Experts claimed, however, that only $3bn of this money was new funding.

They committed themselves to "a strong interest in a stable, democratic and prosperous Africa", but added that, "Good governance in Africa is vital to peace, stability, sustainable development and growth. Without good governance, all other reforms will have limited impacts."

The Prime Minister, Tony Blair, welcomed the G8's final communiqué. He said that the world's leading nations had "a deal with Africa".

"There has been immense progress made. Perhaps an indication of that is that the Japanese have said that Africa will be right at the centre of the agenda at the G8 next year, and that's got to be good news."

But the G8's announcement, entitled Growth and Responsibility in Africa, was greeted with disappointment and derision by development agencies and other campaigners. The Gleneagles agreement of 2005 committed the world's leading nations to providing free anti-retroviral treatment for all - approximately 10m people. But yesterday's announcement appears to go back on those figures, only committing the G8 to provide treatment for 5 million HIV/AIDS sufferers.

At the end of the day, long-term campaigners Sir Bob Geldof and Bono condemned the G8 as "a farce".

"What happened over the last two days was bollocks," Sir Bob said.

"What bottom line are we driving down to when we reject the future of the world and the poor within it?"

Action Aid's head of HIV/AIDS campaign criticised the "abject failure" of the G8 and described it as "devastating news for the 40m people living with HIV/AIDS."

Tearfund's advocacy director, Andy Atkins, said that the announcement was "tragically close to failure".

He added, "These unfulfilled Gleneagles G8 promises will cost millions of lives. Two years after Gleneagles, the true ambivalence of the G8's concern for Africa is becoming apparent. The early success of Gleneagles is being squandered by paltry responses on Aids, trade and aid."

He said that the announcement on AIDS was "potentially a betrayal of the promises made at Gleneagles. Millions of people living with HIV and AIDS will suffer as a result of this piecemeal response to calls for long-term funding."

Steve Cockburn, campaign co-ordinator of the Stop AIDS Campaign said, "If delivered, this money will save lives, yet ultimately this outrageous poverty of ambition shown by the G8 will cost more lives."

Despite the criticism, the President of the G8, Angela Merkel, said that the summit had been "a success".

She added, "There is no doubt that we are moving and making great efforts. The thing is to look forward."

Africa will be the subject of debate at next year's G8 in Japan.