By IPS Correspondents
EVIAN, France, May 27 2003 (IPS)

As G8 leaders prepare to meet next Sunday in Evian-les-Bains in the French Alps, the fall-out of the diplomatic rift over Iraq is threatening to push Africa to the fringes.

Signs are that squabbles over the Iraq war have profoundly strained relations between France and the United States.

The impact is being felt in the run-up to the annual summit meeting of world’s seven major industrial nations and Russia June 1-3.

"While the ‘two Titans’ indulge in their power struggles and declare that they have ‘surrendered to poverty’, Africa is being crushed in the fray," said an African diplomat who did not wish to be named.

"Apart from being used as fodder for cannons in the war of words between the two Titans, Africa appears to be slipping off the action agenda," the diplomat told IPS.

Campaigners, who were highly critical of the G8 last year for failing to deliver an action plan for African development, now fear that the fall-out from the Iraq war might derail the African agenda at the Evian Summit.

They are worried that even a modest scale of help will not be on offer for the beleaguered continent.

Oxfam International, the humanitarian organisation, says real action for Africa at the forthcoming summit is more vital than ever as across the continent millions of people are fighting their own war against poverty everyday.

"The campaign of ‘shock and awe’ may be over in Iraq, but Africa’s challenges are truly shocking," says Oxfam.

The situation in Africa is dire. More than 28 million people are living with HIV/AIDS and more than half of sub-Saharan Africa’s 600 million people live on less than one dollar a day.

One of Africa’s strongest supporters is French President Jacques Chirac who was hoping that the Evian summit would be an opportunity to unite the world’s most powerful countries around a rescue plan for Africa.

This, he hoped, would bridge the deep rift between Paris and Washington over the war on Iraq.

Last February, at a summit of African leaders in Paris, President Chirac called for a moratorium on agricultural dumping in Africa by both the European Union and the U.S.

However, Moeletsi Mbeki, vice chairman of the Southern African Institute of International Affairs in South Africa, says the trouble with the plan is that it comes from France whom the U.S. has not forgiven for voting against it on Iraq.

Also, Washington does not share the view that its subsidies to farmers harm other nations.

Aid agencies are lobbying British Prime Minister Tony Blair to use his relationship with U.S. President George W. Bush to persuade him to back the Chirac plan which will help African economies by putting a floor on commodity prices.

But the chances of garnering this support are slim.

Bush has accused Europe of impoverishing Africa through its unwillingness to import genetically modified (GM) foods.

"European governments should join – not hinder – the great cause of ending hunger in Africa," he said.

Washington has mounted a legal challenge at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to Europe’s moratorium on GM food imports.

Campaigners at the summit are also determined not to give up on Africa. They will be delivering an urgent message to President Chirac on Thursday that the G8 summit in Evian is in danger of failing the world’s poorest.

In the shadow of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, eight people wearing giant papier-mache heads representing the G8 leaders will wave white flags as a symbol of their surrender in the battle against world poverty.

They want to ensure that the continent is not forgotten.

The New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) will be drawing the focus at the ‘Summit for an alternative World’ – the parallel G8 – May 29-31 in the Swiss town Annemasse.

The civil society groups come from around the world.

NEPAD has been adopted by African Heads of State as the official economic programme of the African Union. The G8 have recognised it as the basis of their Africa Action Plan. The United Nations accept it as the official framework for development assistance to the continent.

Key elements in NEPAD include an emphasis on African led solutions, initiatives that promote peace, democratisation, human rights and accelerated economic and social development.

"Africans have to take responsibility for their continent that requires leadership and a reform from within. It is important for our leaders to serve their countries and not loot them. Unless we start creating a continent of enlightened and empowered people unfortunately the tragedy for Africa is going to get a lot worse," says African political analyst Moeletsi Mbeki. It remains to be seen if Chirac’s assertion that the Evian summit – comprising heads of government and state of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, the United States and Japan – "will be the one that implements the plan of action for Africa adopted at Kananaskis" last year in Canada.

Important decisions are on table: fighting famine, preparations for an African peace-keeping force, market access, mobilisation of public and private funding for growth and infrastructure, fighting corruption and the depletion of natural resources.

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