OTTAWA (Reuters) - A two-day summit of world leaders in Canada next week seems set to be dominated by the needs and concerns of the United States, to the likely irritation of everyone else taking part.
Prime Minister Jean Chretien wants the focus to be on helping Africa. But he will play second fiddle to U.S. President George W. Bush, whose efforts to deal with the far-reaching fallout from the Sept. 11 suicide attacks now dominate the international agenda.
This spells more tension for the Group of Eight -- Canada, Britain, the United States, Russia, France, Japan, Germany and Italy -- where many are already unhappy about what they see as Washington's unilateralist stance.
Diplomats say senior Canadian officials are privately musing about whether the G8 has in reality become the G1, where the world's lone superpower can do pretty much what it wants while everyone else grits their teeth in frustration.
"We all fear that this will turn into an 'Everyone against Bush' meeting, which is not good news," one senior G7 diplomat in Ottawa told Reuters.
"The whole purpose of the G8 is to give the impression to the rest of the world that there is a general consensus among the most important countries regarding world affairs."
The meeting takes place next Wednesday and Thursday in the secluded Rocky Mountain resort of Kananaskis, chosen in part to discourage mass protests of the kind which marred last year's G8 summit in the Italian port city of Genoa.
A glance at the Kananaskis agenda shows the United States effectively taking the lead on every item -- the worsening Middle East crisis, the India-Pakistan standoff, the state of the world economy and the battle against terrorism.
But Bush will have to pay some attention to his partners because he needs their support for a cherished new nonproliferation initiative.
This means there is likely to be some horse-trading behind the scenes with Chretien, who wants backing for a new G8 plan to boost foreign investment and aid for Africa.
Washington and its allies are divided over how best to help Africa and the G8 plan is of little interest to Bush, who on Wednesday pledged $500 million to help fight the spread of AIDS in Africa and the Caribbean.
Instead, he wants the summit to approve a U.S. proposal to boost nuclear nonproliferation projects in Russia and prevent militant groups from building weapons of mass destruction.
Bush's "Ten plus ten over ten" plan calls on the United States, and the rest of Group of Seven leading industrialized nations collectively, to each contribute $10 billion over 10 years. The G7 comprises the G8 minus Russia.
But the plan is unlikely to be ready at Kananaskis, in part because the other countries are reluctant to hand over such a large amount of money and also because Russia has not even begun to make up its mind as to whether it would accept.
LOOKING FOR COMPROMISES
Diplomats say Bush could therefore be ready to do a deal whereby he shows some enthusiasm for the Africa plan in return for a commitment by other G8 leaders to back the nonproliferation proposal when it is finalized.
"They would like a deal on 'Ten plus ten over ten'. So keep your eyes open for a compromise on these issues," said one G8 diplomat.
Although Chretien has little interest in foreign affairs there is no doubt the G8 Africa plan is close to his heart and he wants the second day of the summit to discuss nothing else.
The plan was drawn up in response to an initiative from African leaders last year which broke new ground by agreeing African nations had to introduce reforms to draw in sorely-needed foreign investment.
Africa's New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) targets a highly ambitious annual foreign investment of $64 billion, more than seven times higher than the total amount of investment in Africa in 1999.
Top Canadian diplomat Robert Fowler, who is both Chretien's representative to the summit and in charge of putting together the G8 action plan, dismisses those who say Africa's plight is so deep that it cannot be helped.
"I don't share that view, I think that view would have been ethically indefensible given the reality of the challenges that Africans face today," he said in a recent interview.
But activists dismiss NEPAD as a variation of what they say are already discredited policies pushed by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund and say there are easier ways to help the continent.
"Cancel the debt now and Africa with its people will be on its feet," said Emily Sikazwe, executive director of Women for Change in Zambia.
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