Protests flare as G8 leaders head to Scotland

GLENEAGLES, Scotland - Dozens of protesters clashed with police yesterday and blocked roads around a luxury hotel where the world's most powerful leaders were to tussle over aid to Africa and combating global warming.

Hooded activists smashed car windows and fought with riot police in the nearby town of Stirling while others set up impromptu barricades on the roads around the heavily guarded complex hosting the summit of Group of Eight leaders.

Police made 60 arrests as anti-capitalist, anarchist and environmentalist groups sought to capture the protest limelight that has until now been occupied by thousands of campaigners pressing for an end to poverty in Africa.

Prime Minister Tony Blair, host of the three-day summit, is likely to make headway on his goals of doubling aid to Africa to US$50 million ($74.83 billion) a year, opening world markets to African goods and cancelling debt.

But he will face tough opposition from the United States on his other main goal: a deal to combat the harmful emissions that most scientists say are warming the earth.

US President George W Bush said he would propose a worldwide effort to invest in alternatives to oil and gas as Washington's answer to the challenge of climate change.

"Listen, the United States, for national security reasons and economic security, needs to diversify away from fossil fuels. And so we've put out a strategy to do just that. I can't wait to share it with our G8 friends," said Bush.

Talks among the G8 leaders could be complicated by London pipping Paris to the right to host the 2012 summer Olympics.

Blair and French President Jacques Chirac, who lobbied hard for their respective capitals, have a tense relationship and are already locked in a bitter battle over the European Union.

Blair arrived in Scotland from two days of lobbying the International Olympic Committee ahead of its decision in Singapore. He was to meet celebrity campaigners against poverty in Africa on Wednesday afternoon.

The summit officially begins with a dinner hosted by Britain's Queen Elizabeth.

A "Live 8" rock concert in the Scottish capital Edinburgh day will add to the pressure on the leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Russia, Italy, Canada and the United States.

More than a million people attended concerts around the world on Saturday and billions watched on television and the internet as pop stars campaigned for extra aid, debt relief and fairer trade terms for Africa.

Blair already has a debt relief deal in his pocket and should secure some promises on extra aid. But he is unlikely to get what he wants on financing long-term development for Africa.

The leaders of the world's top industrialised countries are expected to rubber-stamp agreement on writing off more than $40 billion in debt to 18 mainly sub-Saharan African states, with another 20 countries potentially eligible later.

Aid agencies say even that will do little to overcome Africa's problems. They argue that 62 countries need 100 per cent debt relief if they are to meet the goals agreed at the United Nations of halving poverty and disease by 2015.

Critics also expect little of substance on climate change, deriding as insufficient the US reliance on technological solutions to global warming rather than the emissions caps agreed by other G8 countries under the Kyoto protocol.

Bush, in a new emphasis in US policy, acknowledged more loudly than before that humans were to blame for harmful climate change and that it was in Washington's interests to respond.

"Listen, I recognise the surface of the Earth is warmer, and that an increase in greenhouse gases caused by humans is contributing to the problem," he told a news conference during a visit to Denmark on his way to the G8 summit.

Concerns over energy were underscored in the draft declaration on economic issues, which was shown to Reuters.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has insisted that the G8 be seen to act over oil prices. But there were few concrete measures in the draft declaration, which is expected to be changed little by the leaders in their discussions.

The draft says the G8 objects to high oil prices and wants clear information on oil reserves to counter speculation in the markets that may damage global economic growth.

Oil prices rose to a record of US$60.95 a barrel last week, driven by high demand, notably from China.

"The health of the global economy is a key concern to each of the members of the G8 and to the world as a whole," says the draft. "But challenges remain, especially persistent global imbalances and high and volatile oil prices," it said.

The draft declaration made no call on China to ease restrictions on its currency, which US legislators have said keeps Chinese export prices artificially low in world markets.

- REUTERS