United States President George Bush will back an ambitious British-designed plan for more generous debt relief for the world’s poorest countries this week as the White House seeks backing from the G8 industrial nations for the financial reconstruction of Iraq.
In a last-minute softening of his stance, Bush has signalled to Tony Blair that he is prepared to offer greater generosity towards impoverished nations in Africa in an attempt to win western backing for a $90-billion write-off of debts built up by Saddam Hussein.
The US had been planning a modest extension of debt relief at a G8 summit which begins today in Sea Island, Georgia, amid unprecedented security to prevent a terrorist attack on visiting leaders from Britain, Germany, France, Japan, Italy, Canada and Russia.
Bush, according to UK sources, is now prepared to go much further on debt relief, following criticism that America cannot expect the slate to be wiped clean for Iraq unless it is prepared to adopt the same approach to poor countries in the rest of the world.
With the White House also eager to secure backing for a new UN resolution on Iraq, Bush will seek to show a commitment to multilateralism by endorsing a proposal drawn up by the chancellor, Gordon Brown, and the international development secretary, Hilary Benn.
This would make the world’s 41 highly indebted poor countries (HIPC) eligible for 100% debt write-offs from their multilateral creditors such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, at a cost to rich countries of $1-billion-plus per year.
Blair will unveil the proposal at Sea Island, and will see Bush’s change of heart as a vindication of his view that British support for the Iraq war has won him influence in Washington.
UK Treasury officials said it was ”an ambitious and unprecedented extension of debt relief”, and that details would need to be finalised by finance ministers over the coming months.
They added that it was vital that the United States did not use its support for multilateral debt relief as an excuse for backsliding on other forms of debt relief and financial assistance to poor countries.
These include plans — also due to receive G8 support this week — for a $1-billion, one-off top-up to a trust fund that helps poor countries pay off their bilateral debts and an extension of the HIPC programme beyond the end of 2004 to allow countries in conflict to remain eligible for help.
In return for the United States’s support on debt relief, Blair will back Bush’s call at the summit for a drive to bring democracy and human rights to the Middle East, even though the initiative has caused deep divisions within the Arab world, especially traditional western allies such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
The president is looking for G8 approval for a proposal to bring democracy, human rights and the rule of law to perhaps the most authoritarian regions in the globe.
Arab opposition to the Greater Middle East Initiative, Bush’s planned centrepiece of the G8, has been fuelled by leaks of the proposal, resentment that America is the scheme’s author and a suspicion that the proposals originate with the same neo-conservatives who pushed for the invasion of Iraq.
Some Arab states point out that they are not represented on the G8 and it is for the Arab League to start any push for democracy, an issue that has divided the league.
Bush will also meet Iraq’s new interim president, Ghazi al-Yawar, for one-on-one talks at the meeting, in a departure from G8 protocol.
Tight security was on Tuesday clearly in evidence in Savannah, the famously genteel southern US city.
Army patrols in jeeps more suited to desert landscapes than the moss-covered, 18th century squares of Savannah mingled with thousands of police, FBI and secret service personnel. Sniffer dogs patrolled the corridors of the hotels, booked up by 1 500 delegates and 3 500 members of the media.
The city, fearful of threats of terrorism and anti-globalisation protesters, had sealed off many of the obvious potential targets, including the grand white federal courthouse building.
Some businesses have already closed for the duration with signs in their windows telling shoppers that they will reopen next week.
The security was even tighter at Sea Island, the secluded ocean resort 70 miles to the south of the city, where the meetings will take place.
The island and its surrounding airspace have been closed. The US coastguard, helicopters, combat aircraft and teams with anti-aircraft missiles are patrolling the area.
Protest groups have complained that the security efforts have gone too far and that they have not been allowed permits to march.
The American Civil Liberties Union in Atlanta said it planned to file a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of new laws on public gatherings. – Guardian Unlimited Â