Berlusconi ‘broke his promises’ on Africa

How much criticism can Silvio Berlusconi take? Kofi Annan, the former UN Secretary-General, has joined Bob Geldof in admonishing the Italian Prime Minister for failing to fulfil the pledges made at the 2005 Gleneagles G8 summit on aid to Africa. And as Berlusconi prepares to welcome world leaders to this week's summit in L'Aquila, Pope Benedict too is piling on the pressure.

While other nations have given more than they promised in 2005 (Japan has increased its aid by 150 per cent, and the Canadians by 200 per cent), and most other countries are on track to keep their pledges, Italy is going backwards, with aid from the Foreign Ministry being cut by 56 per cent.

In the background, there is pressure for Italy to be expelled from the group of eight and for its place at the top table to be given instead to Spain.

All of this comes on top of the chaos surrounding the summit in Italy which Berlusconi insisted on moving from Sardinia, where plans were well advanced, to the quake-damaged town of L'Aquila where workmen are racing to get a converted police barracks ready for his guests.

ANNAN'S LETTERIn a personal letter to Berlusconi, Annan is reported to have written: "Not honouring commitments and reducing official development assistance would betray the values of your country and be a breach of faith, dashing the hopes that these pledges have generated."

According to the Financial Times, it is "a blatant attempt at naming and shaming" on the eve of the G8 summit. Africa is supposed to be central to this week's agenda, along with climate change, health and food security.

GELDOF'S ATTACKAnnan's letter follows an extraordinary account of the veteran Africa campaigner Bob Geldof having a go at Berlusconi during an interview for La Stampa, the Turin paper Geldof guest-edited for a day.

Geldof claims Italy has so far produced a miserable three per cent of the aid it promised at Gleneagles. Waving a copy of the commitment Berlusconi signed at the 2005 summit, Geldof told the prime minister: "Here is the signature of a country and the honour of a man."

Berlusconi responded: "I am sorry, we made a mistake."

Geldof: "If Africans [had the money to] buy products, there would be more jobs created in Italy."

Berlusconi: "You're right, when you make a promise you need to keep it. We are late and we must catch up. I am sorry not to have kept promises, we have had to deal with all the things that have happened. The crisis, the earthquake. We also have a battle with the opposition and judges who attack us."

Geldof: "But this, prime minister, is not a discussion about the media or the judicial system. We are talking about poor people who cannot defend themselves."

Berlusconi: "We will try not to let you down."

Geldof: "It is a question of credibility. Political credibility. You risk becoming 'Mr Three Per Cent', the man who keeps just three per cent of his promises."

A witness to the interview, Mario Calabresi, Editor of La Stampa, said it had been "like a boxing match". There were moments when he had expected either Berlusconi or Geldof "to get up and walk out".

POPE'S DEMANDThe Geldof interview followed an open letter from the Pope to Berlusconi published on Saturday which called on G8 leaders to "defend the poor".

Pope Benedict appealed to them to "listen to the voice of Africa", adding that the economic crisis meant there was a "real risk not only that hopes of emerging from extreme poverty will be dashed but that populations that have benefited from a minimum of material wellbeing will fall into poverty".

MOVE TO EXPEL ITALYAccording to a report in the Guardian, pressure is growing in some quarters of the G8 for Italy to be expelled from the group. As well as the chaos that has ensued as a result of Berlusconi's risky decision to move the summit to L'Aquila, the Italians have been so inactive in preparing the summit agenda that Washington has had to organise conference calls between delegations - so-called 'sherpa calls' - to get things moving.

"For another country to organise the sherpa calls is just unprecedented. It's a nuclear option," a senior G8 member state official told the Guardian. "The Italians have been just awful. There have been no processes and no planning."

"The Italian preparations for the summit have been chaotic from start to finish," said Richard Gowan of the Centre for International Co-operation at New York University. "The Italians were saying as long ago as January this year that they did not have a vision of the summit, and if the Obama administration had any ideas they would take instruction from the Americans."

If they were to be pushed out of the G8, the obvious contender to replace Italy would be Spain, which has a higher per-capita national income and gives a greater percentage of GDP in aid. ·