By Moyiga Nduru
JOHANNESBURG, Jul 9 2005 (IPS)

Leaders of the Group of Eight (G8) major industrialized nations wrapped up their summit in Gleneagles, Scotland this week, amidst images of bloodstained commuters crying and struggling to get away from the scene of blasts that occurred in Britain’s capital – London.

In Africa, which was to have provided the uninterrupted focus on the G8 meeting, these images were also watched, in living rooms, cafes and bars. For South Africa, the debate following the terrorist attacks gained particular intensity after reports emerged that two of its nationals had been injured in the incidents.

Although government has yet to release the names of the persons, it is known that they are currently in separate hospitals in London. South Africa’s deputy minister of foreign affairs, Aziz Pahad, has condemned as “barbaric” the attacks which targeted three lines in London’s underground railway system – and one of the city’s famous red double decker buses.

More than 50 people died in the blasts, while about 700 are said to have been injured. The coordinated nature of the incidents has prompted speculation that the al-Qaeda terrorist network may be responsible for them. The terror attacks in New York in 2001, and in the Spanish capital of Madrid last year – both attributed to al-Qaeda – were marked by similar coordination.

As news of London’s disaster unfolded, conspiracy theories and opinions about global terrorism were aired on a popular talk radio station in South Africa’s commercial hub, Johannesburg, with one caller claiming that the blasts were a strategy to enable Britain and the United States to repress Muslims.

Another caller viewed the attacks as symptomatic of a clash of values between Western nations and the Islamic world. A third suggested that the bombs were an attempt to shift the emphasis of the G8 summit away from Africa to security issues.

Added Patrick Craven, spokesman for the Congress of South African Trade Unions, “We detest any attempt to hijack the problems of Africa by bombing innocent people in the streets of London.”

“The biggest problems in Africa remain poverty and underdevelopment,” he told IPS. “We are not going to give up, but continue with our campaign for more aid and for the rich nations to grant Africa access to their markets.”

Even though the Gleneagles meeting was preceded by widespread calls for the G8 to start dismantling trade barriers, particularly agricultural subsidies, nothing emerged on this contentious issue from the summit. British Prime Minister Tony Blair told a news conference in Scotland Friday that the matter would be discussed at the World Trade Organisation conference that is scheduled to take place in Hong Kong this December.

Nonetheless, there was progress in the area of aid.

“The G8 leaders have agreed to…(an) aid boost for developing nations. That means the bombing has made little difference,” Ayesha Kajee, a researcher at the South African Institute of International Affairs, a Johannesburg-based think-tank, told IPS.

According to a G8 communique, “The commitments of the G8 and donors will lead to an increase in official development assistance to Africa of 25 billion dollars a year by 2010, more than doubling aid to Africa compared to 2004.” The group’s decision means that aid from wealthy countries to Africa will reach 50 billion dollars annually by 2010.

Concerns are now focusing on how this increased assistance might be spent.

“There may be an emphasis shift from poverty alleviation to security” observed Kajee. “We are going to see a far more considered streaming of aid to partners in terms of security and good governance.”

A group of African leaders headed by South Africa’s Thabo Mbeki and his Nigerian counterpart, Olusegun Obasanjo, was present in Gleneagles this week to hold talks with G8 heads of state. Blair said the African leaders had committed themselves to promoting accountable government, fighting corruption and ending conflict on their continent.

South Africa is currently involved in mediation efforts to end civil war in Burundi and the Ivory Coast.

Reports also emerged this week that Sudan’s government will begin a new round of African Union-sponsored talks with rebels in its western Darfur region next month. The area has been wracked by violence since February 2003 after two groups took up arms against government, claiming that it had neglected the needs of local communities. The Khartoum administration is accused of supporting Arab militias in a campaign to suppress ethnic groups from which the Darfur rebels reportedly draw their support.

On a more positive note, a former rebel leader from southern Sudan – John Garang – flew into Khartoum for the first time in 21 years Friday to be sworn in as vice-president: this under the terms of a peace deal that ended Africa’s longest-running civil war on Jan. 9 this year.

The G8 leaders have agreed to train and equip 75,000 peacekeepers by 2010 to take part in global operations, with a focus on Africa. “We commend and will continue to support the African Union’s mission in Sudan (Darfur), just as we are contributing to peacekeeping operations in Southern Sudan,” they said in their communique.

“I think we must commend the G8 leaders on their support of peacekeepers and for fighting malaria in Africa. They say they will commit 1.5 billion dollars a year to fighting malaria. This will save 600,000 children’s lives a year by 2015: this is good news,” said Sam Dube, a politics researcher at the Pretoria-based University of South Africa.

But, “On trade, I don’t think they have scored any marks. They just want to keep their market closed to African products,” he said in an interview with IPS.

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