WASHINGTON,
August 19 (News Agencies) - U.S. President George W. Bush will be
notable by his absence at the upcoming Johannesburg Earth Summit,
leaving the United States with the prospect of being branded the
scapegoat if the summit fails.
The
final preparatory conference held in the Indonesian resort of Bali in
late June in order to put together an action plan for the Johannesburg
parley ended in failure attributed by some delegations to the position
adopted by the United States, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
Informal
consultations since then have yielded some progress, but a number of
crucial issues have not been resolved.
As
about 100 heads of state and government signaled their readiness to
come to South Africa, the White House made clear Bush was not coming.
His first visit to Africa will take place next year.
Washington
has not officially announced the make-up of its delegation. The
participation of Secretary of State Colin Powell seems most likely.
Ten
years after the first Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, developing
countries are expecting concrete results from the second summit,
possibly a set of new targets for reducing hunger and poverty in the
world, better protection of their natural resources as well as
financing.
The
conference in Bali was unable to bridge differences on these issues
between the United States, Europe and developing nations.
Washington
is also running the risk of coming under fire for its stance of
environmental issues, particularly with regard to global warming.
The
environmental group Sierra Club said the U.S. government delegation in
Bali repeatedly resisted any serious steps to address a host of global
environmental problems.
“The
administration has consistently blocked attempts to protect the global
environment by promoting plans that benefit large corporations rather
than the billions of citizens who have to deal with environmental
crises, like dirty water and air, and global climate change,” said
Sierra Club Director Michael Dorsey.
In
Johannesburg, the United States is expected to follow the script it
adopted at a spring U.N. development summit in Monterrey, Mexico, and
defend its liberal free-market philosophy, arguing that open markets
assure sustainable economic growth.
Bush
has announced a significant increase in U.S. development aid, which is
expected to grow from 10 billion dollars to 15 billion dollars a year.
But
the bulk of this assistance is expected to be directed toward
countries that accept political and economic principles dictated by
Washington and will target four areas: education, health services
including the anti-AIDS campaign, agriculture and investment and
trade.
During
a recent conference in Washington, Powell said the United States would
have to do a lot to ensure the success of the summit in Johannesburg.
He
said sustainable development was also a security imperative.
“Poverty,
destruction of the environment and despair are destroyers of people,
of societies, of nations, a cause of instability as an unholy trinity
that can destabilize countries and destabilize entire regions,” the
secretary of state pointed out.
Powell
said the United States will be taking three messages to Johannesburg:
- the United States is totally committed to supporting sustainable
development;
- sustainable development must begin at home, with sound policies and
good governance;
- governments, civil society and the private sector must work in
partnership to mobilize development resources.
But
the chief U.S. diplomat warned that sustainable development “is a
marathon, not a sprint” and efforts to achieve it would continue
beyond Johannesburg and well into the future.
