[stop-imf] Guardian: Brown accused of 'furious spin' on poverty deal

[Robert Weissman]

Brown accused of 'furious spin' on poverty deal

Treasury rejects activists' claims

Larry Elliott, Ewen MacAskill and Patrick Wintour
Tuesday July 5, 2005
The Guardian

The Make Poverty History group last night accused Gordon Brown of hyping th=
e debt deal offered by rich countries to Africa ahead of this week's G8 sum=
mit.

In a letter to the chancellor, the chairman of Make Poverty History, Richar=
d Bennett, expressed "dismay and serious concern" at the way Britain was pr=
esenting proposals for debt cancellation.

"What is being discussed is emphatically not 100% debt cancellation for the=
 world's poorest countries, but government spokespeople continue to state o=
r imply that it is."


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The Treasury rejected the accusation that Mr Brown had over-spun the debt r=
elief agreement, but the letter was made public at a time when members of t=
he Make Poverty History coalition were expressing strong misgivings.

The summit at Gleneagles, Perthshire, which begins with a banquet hosted by=
 the Queen tomorrow night, is scheduled to end on Friday afternoon. The "sh=
erpas", the officials of each country who negotiate the detail ahead of the=
 summit, held talks at Gleneagles yesterday and a further, full session is =
scheduled for tomorrow.

The sherpas achieved progress at the weekend on climate change by securing =
concessions from the US agreeing to a programme of action to curb warming. =
But they are still negotiating the details of doubling aid to Africa by 201=
0.

The officials are concerned that when the final communique is published on =
Friday, it risks being met with cynicism because at least two of the countr=
ies, Italy and Germany, have only given promises, not firm commitments.

Pressure from other G8 members is being put on Italy and Germany to remove =
their caveats. "It would be the worst thing for Africa to make these commit=
ments and not deliver," a G8 official said.

Action Aid said that, despite the "furious spin by the UK government", ther=
e is still a long way to go if Gleneagles is to be declared a success.

Steve Tibbett, the charity's head of policy and campaigns, said: "It is sho=
cking that the government is using millions of poor people to score a PR co=
up. Look behind the rhetoric and the reality falls far short. We are still =
nowhere near a deal that will effectively tackle global poverty. So far the=
 UK government is largely serving up spin and hype."

A meeting of finance ministers from the G7 countries - the G8 excluding Rus=
sia - agreed last month to write off the debts of up to 28 states, most of =
them in sub-Saharan Africa, to the World Bank, the International Monetary F=
und and the African Development Bank.

Campaign groups said, however, that the deal did not include debts owed to =
the private sector and, in the case of four Latin American countries, did n=
ot include debts to the Inter-American Bank.

"A small minority of the world's poorest countries will have significant de=
bt cancellation if this deal is agreed," Mr Bennett said in his letter.

"This is a step forward, as we have publicly acknowledged, but does not eve=
n come close to ending the debt crisis."

The Treasury said the chancellor had made it clear when he spoke at a meeti=
ng organised by the Church of Scotland and Christian Aid at the week end th=
at debt relief only applied to some countries, and that Britain would be pr=
essing the G8 to extend its generosity.

Mr Brown said: "I can tell you now that we have already decided that in thi=
s year, 2005, 18 of the poorest countries of the world - then 28 and then 3=
8 - will for the first time have 100% of their debts written off: $40bn of =
debt written off immediately. A historic act that means that instead of rep=
aying debt, these [countries] will be able to pay for health care, educatio=
n and safe water for their people.

"One hundred percent debt cancellation: proof that we are not powerless but=
 that working together we have power to change the world. And I give you th=
is pledge: for nearly 70 countries, we, Britain, will unilaterally write of=
f our share of their debt payments, and from now on our task will be to per=
suade the rest of the G8 that for these countries too we should remove fore=
ver the burden of their unpayable debt."

The sherpas achieved a breakthrough on climate change when they met in Lond=
on at the weekend. The US acknowledged for the first time that there is evi=
dence that human behaviour contributes to climate change, including the mel=
ting ice-cap.

The US concession is enough to head off a threat from the French president,=
 Jacques Chirac, to split the G8 and leave Mr Bush isolated.

The sherpas also agreed collective action on climate change, ranging from l=
ooking at ways to reduce dependence on fossil fuels to the transfer of clea=
ner technology, specifically nuclear, to emerging countries such as China a=
nd India.

Downing Street said yesterday it is convinced it will secure an agreement t=
hat will bring together in a new forum the countries that emit 60% of the w=
orld's carbon dioxide.