Once again rich countries are passing the buck, fumes Gamal Nkrumah Certain summits invite disbelief, and the G8 summit of the world's wealthiest and most industrially advanced countries convened in the Japanese city of Sapporo on the remote, northernmost Japanese island of Hokkaido. The inauspicious meeting was dismissed by critics as nothing but a talking shop, even though the Japanese authorities were careful to ensure that anti-globalisation activists were kept at bay. The leaders of the G8 countries met for their annual gathering amid much international rancour and resentment. The pledges by the rich countries to help the world's poorest nations have been systematically disregarded. Social and economic conditions in many of the developing countries of the South have deteriorated to such an extent that the sharp rise in food and fuel prices threatens to erode the gains sustained over the past two decades in democratisation and political reform. Worse, social unrest, even upheaval, looms large on the horizon. The portents are increasingly ominous. Leaders of the world's richest nations met with African leaders assembled in nearby, and even more remote Toyako. The venue was chosen especially to avoid the anti- globalisation and environmentalist activists. The focus of the talks with Africans was to find solutions to the crises caused by the spiralling food prices. The president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, attempted to assure the African leaders who trekked to Toyako. "We will be working for real commitments from this G8, not only reinforcing ones taken last year but also, if possible, to go beyond that with a mid-term commitment." Barroso's words were taken with a pinch of salt. Tucked away in Toyako, nestled high in the mountains above Sapporo, the leaders of the G8 nations appeared to literally barricade themselves in an ivory tower. If they are serious about assisting the poor, however, they must come down to earth. After the longest and biggest boom in post-WW II American history, it is payback time as recession sets in, and the United States shows even less willingness than usual to face global problems. US President George W Bush put the blame for the global carbon emissions challenge and climate change on China and India. They, in return, insisted that they couldn't be expected to cut back on emissions until they are fully industrialised. Asia's emerging powers are of pivotal importance to the global economy and they realise that fact all too well. How can Africa's economic and development crises be seriously discussed without Chinese input? China has become the continent's leading trading partner thanks in large measure to its insatiable appetite for hydrocarbons, minerals and other raw materials. Talks about African development are meaningless without an in-depth Chinese briefing. Thus far the stand-off between the emerging economic giants of China and India on the one hand and the West on the other has contained little drama, if one ignores the brouhaha over the Beijing Olympic Games and the hullabaloo over China's record in Tibet. For a few tense weeks it appeared that the Beijing games were destined to be cancelled, then a torrent of natural disasters hit China -- earthquakes and devastating floods -- which arrested the wave of Western despondency over China. The world's fourth largest economy once again won the favour of its Western rivals. Indeed, the G8 summit comes at a critical juncture in the rise of China and India as superpowers. Indeed, the leader of Brazil -- another rising economic power -- was in Japan. Brazilian President Lula da Silva brought up the contentious topic of biofuels and reiterated Brazil's position that it shall continue to be one of the world's largest producers of biofuels because it cannot afford to do otherwise. The country is, after all, energy short. The outlook for the world economy does not look particularly bright. And, this is a matter of considerable controversy. The West generally is reeling from the fuel crisis, but the situation in the developing countries of the South is nothing short of catastrophic. The interplay between the developed and developing worlds has assumed convoluted dimensions. The apparent breakdown in the relationship between rich and poor was poignantly reflected this week in the convening of parallel summits in Mali and Malaysia. In the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur, the D8 summit of the leading predominantly Muslim developing countries -- Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey -- focussed on alleviating the effects of the fuel crisis on impoverished nations. The Kuala Lumpur summit highlighted the response of the Muslim world to the oil shock. In his message to the Kuala Lumpur summit, President Hosni Mubarak stressed that the wealthier Muslim nations must provide food and fuel to the poorer countries, or at least ensure that the poor nations acquire food and fuel at affordable prices. Mubarak again warned against the widespread use of biofuels, a practice that is bound to exacerbate rising food prices. He stressed that international dialogue is imperative at this particular historical juncture. He added that Egypt welcomed increased investment from the D8 countries and that cooperation between developing countries is just as important as collaboration between developing and developed countries. The Minister of State for International Cooperation Faiza Abul-Naga who represented Egypt at the Kuala Lumpur gathering, highlighted Egypt's efforts to mobilise agricultural resources and cooperate more closely with its neighbours. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad blamed the West for the energy crisis. "This oil crisis is an artificial situation. Today we see production is more than the consumption of the market and we see the market is full of crude oil," he said in Kuala Lumpur. The Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono echoed the same sentiment, albeit in a more conciliatory tone. "There's no quick fix that will sweep aside this challenge. But we must act on it at once and in concert. To delay concerted action on this great challenge of our time is to court disaster." Last but not least, a third meeting of representatives of developing countries, both governmental and non-governmental, met in the West African nation of Mali for a brainstorming session on the food and fuel crises, dubbed the poor people's conference. Understandably, the tone at this conference was unremittingly downbeat, if not angry. Anti-poverty campaigner Nouhoun Keita said that the G8 leaders met on Monday to talk about Africa "but we don't expect anything from these meetings. They cannot do anything and they will not do anything for this continent."
