Fireside chat to firefighting

Premier Tony Blair's hope of a slimmed-down, informal G8 summit here has been scuppered by world events, notably India's surprise resumption...

Premier Tony Blair8217;s hope of a slimmed-down, informal G8 summit here has been scuppered by world events, notably India8217;s surprise resumption of nuclear tests. Blair had hoped that the summit would recapture the informal, focussed mood of early gatherings by holding preparatory meetings of foreign and finance ministers the week before the summit, to iron out differences and set the agenda.

But events since the ministerial gatherings in London last weekend mean that rather than the cosy 8220;fireside chat8221; advertised by Blair, the leaders of the world8217;s major industrial powers will find themselves taking part in an effort to put out fires in India, Kosovo and Indonesia, where anti-government rioting has snowballed in the past week.

To make matters worse, the Group of Eight members do not agree on how to respond to India8217;s decision to carry out five nuclear tests since Monday. The United States has already announced tough economic sanctions which leave India facing possible losses of more than 20 billion, andJapan has suspended aid worth a billion dollars a year. But their G8 partners, while condemning India8217;s action, appear reluctant to follow.

France and Russia have said clearly they are against economic sanctions against New Delhi, while Britain, Germany, Canada and Italy have so far limited their reaction to statements strongly criticising India. US officials say they are not necessarily expecting the summit to announce sanctions against India, but they do want the G8 members to issue a statement of condemnation.

But there is no guarantee that they will even achieve that, judging by what happened at the UN Security Council on Wednesday, when France and Russia persuaded the US and other delegations to tone down the wording of a statement on the tests.

British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook condemned the tests but said Britain would not suspend aid to India because he would not make the poor suffer for their government8217;s actions.

G8 leaders are also in disagreement over what to do about Yugoslavia, afterRussia witheld support at last weekend8217;s pre-summit ministerial meeting for new sanctio ns against the Yugoslav government to punish it for a violent crackdown on the Alba nian ethnic minority in Kosovo.

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The G8 leaders will also have to address the thorny issue of Indonesia, after anti-government rioting worsened considerably.

Discussion of these pressing problems is likely to push into the background issues such as the need to reform international financial institutions in the wake of the Asian crisis, the fight against crime and curbing unemployment, which had been key themes for the gathering.

Blair may be whisking the world leaders away from Britain8217;s second largest city to a retreat in a rural stately home on Saturday, but they will be taking the pressing problems of headline news events with them.