The US and Britain were on Sunday night battling to overcome French objections to win the support of the Group of Eight (G8) major industrialised states for an action plan to tighten the screws on terrorism and weapons of mass destruction.
US President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair were desperate for a convincing show of unity after their bruising diplomatic row with Russia, Germany and France over Iraq, and keen to unveil an agreed action plan today designed to underpin fragile global economic confidence and reinforce diplomatic cohesion in the west.
But the US-led initiative, which includes more stringent controls on civil radioactive material that could be diverted to make a nuclear ”dirty bomb”, was facing detailed opposition in Evian last night.
French President Jacques Chirac, who exchanged a curt handshake with Bush when the two met for the first time since their fallout over Iraq, was resisting the White House’s call for sweeping powers to allow ships to be intercepted on the high seas on suspicion that they were carrying weapons destined for terrorism.
For political reasons, the Elysée does not wish to be seen to dance to America’s tune, but it also has reservations about US high-handedness which saw at least one abortive seizure off the Yemeni coast last year. The proposal to intercept ships is likely to be shelved for further discussion.
The German chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, who met Bush in St Petersburg on Saturday, missed the opening exchanges between the world leaders because he was attending a crucial party conference in Berlin.
The G8 summit drew some 75 000 anti-globalisation protesters to the French-Swiss border, and Sunday ended with clashes between police and anarchist and anti-capitalist groups. A British protester, Martin Shaw (39), suffered multiple fractures when he fell 20m into shallow water after a Swiss policeman cut a rope he was suspended from as he unfurled a protest banner near Lausanne.
Chirac and Bush and their aides have sent mixed signals recently, with the US president talking about the need to ”work together”, but also noting anti-French sentiment at home. Briefing the media, Chirac referred to Bush as one of ”several other” leaders he had met.
As usual, Blair was caught in the middle. He praised French initiatives on Africa and said that Bush had also showed how he was reaching out — over the Palestinian question, Africa and the United Nations (UN) — and listening.
”The most important thing, particularly after all the differences there have been over Iraq, is that the international community comes together and sends a very clear signal” on weapons of mass destruction and terrorism, he said.
Tension was underlined by remarks by an unidentified senior US official on Bush’s aircraft that White House aides complain that France seemed more worried by US power than by Saddam Hussein’s.
”The forces out there that want to destabilise, that want to engage in terrorism, build weapons of mass destruction, would like nothing better than to have the Western alliance … in an internecine battle about whose power needs to be checked,” the official said.
If endorsed by the eight leaders gathered in the security-saturated French spa town on Lake Geneva, the action plan will provide £460-million over 10 years from a global partnership to help Russia deal with its legacy of nuclear waste and chemical weapons.
Former Soviet scientists, a tempting target for both ”rogue states” and terrorist cells, would be assisted to find employment, and help would be provided to dismantle two Russian submarines.
The assistance to President Vladimir Putin would be extended to the destruction of chemical weapons stockpiles and the making safe of spent nuclear fuel. The move signals growing concern about further nuclear proliferation.
Much of today’s expected statement, being finalised as the leaders and their guests dined and discussed the crisis in Africa, stems directly from last year’s G8 summit in the Canadian Rockies and contains a high level of diplomatic ‘feel-good’ factor to reassure voters and consumers, whose confidence is urgently needed, to stave off recession.
But development charities claimed that development issues were falling off the agenda as a result of the focus on fighting terrorism and rogue states.
”The G8 is more likely to find weapons of mass destruction than it is to do anything for Africa,” one source said last night in a reference to the failure to unearth any of Saddam’s biological, chemical or nuclear armoury.
As part of the package the G8 will endorse stronger security measures in the stricken aviation industry, which has been left reeling by September 11 and other events, including the Severe and Acute Respiratory Syndrome outbreak across Asia.
Shipping containers will also get closer attention, including renewed efforts to curb the illegal traffic in small arms and light weapons.
Biometric checks, which include the use of irises and fingerprints on computer-readable ID cards or passports, will also receive the summit’s endorsement. – Guardian Unlimited Â