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Powell is set to take Bush's place at the UN Earth summit
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WASHINGTON
D.C., August 17 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - President George W.
Bush will not attend the upcoming United Nations Earth Summit in
Johannesburg, South Africa and will instead send Secretary of State
Colin Powell to lead the U.S. delegation, officials said Friday.
The
officials, speaking to Agence France-Presse (AFP) on condition of
anonymity, said a formal White House announcement on the composition of
the U.S. delegation was expected shortly, but that Bush had already
decided to send Powell in his place.
The
summit, officially known as the UN World Summit on Sustainable
Development, is to run from August 26 until September 4. Powell is
expected to attend only the final two days of the meeting, the officials
said.
The
next most senior U.S. official planning to be at the summit is Under
Secretary of State for Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky, who will likely
attend for a longer period of time than Powell, the officials said.
Powell
is expected to visit at least two other African countries as part of the
trip, possibly Angola and Gabon, they added.
Meanwhile,
British Prime Minister Tony Blair has barred his deputy environment
minister from attending the forthcoming Earth Summit in Johannesburg
over worries about accusations of junketing at the expense of the
world's poor, The Guardian newspaper reported Tuesday.
Michael
Meacher, said to carry more weight on the international stage than his
senior Margaret Beckett, has been axed from a 70-strong delegation,
according to the left-of-center daily.
Blair
is said to have reacted on the orders of his director of communications
Alastair Campbell who feared a media backlash over the cost of sending a
huge delegation.
Some
30 officials were cut from the original 100-strong party, although
Meacher is the only minister excluded, said The Guardian.
The
government faced major press criticism over the number of civil servants
and ministers it paid to have put up in five star hotels in Bali for the
summit's preparatory meetings in June.
Meacher
attended those talks and after six years in his post is the only British
minister said to have a full understanding of all the issues set to be
discussed in South Africa.
Officials
attending the summit believe that Meacher's absence will damage
Britain's influence on proceedings, according to the broadsheet.
A
spokesman for Blair's office refused to confirm the minister's
exclusion.
"The
delegation has yet to be finalized," he said.
Blair
is expected to be joined at the conference by his deputy John Prescott,
Development Minister Clare Short and Beckett.
The
Earth Summit, formally known as the UN World Summit on Sustainable
Development, is due to be held between August 26 and September 4.
It
is a follow-up to the first Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and
aims at coordinating economic growth plans and environmental protection
in order to guard against global depletion of natural resources.
About
65,000 people representing governments, activist movements and
non-governmental organizations are expected to attend the summit, with
the United Nations saying 58 heads of state and 40 heads of government
had expressed interest.
