By Yoko Nishikawa and Jeremy Pelofsky
TOYAKO, Japan (Reuters) - G8 leaders sat down to lunch at aluxury hotel with African heads of state on Monday as activistsaccused the rich nations' club of backpedalling on pledges todouble aid to the world's poorest continent.
The African poverty that tops the agenda at the start of athree-day summit is closely linked with the rising food andfuel prices and global warming the G8 will tackle later in theweek.
The G8 has invited seven African leaders to join theopening day of its annual summit, taking place on the northernJapanese island of Hokkaido.
"It is important to see this summit as arguably the mostimportant G8 summit in a decade. The world is clearly facingmultiple crises, serious, serious economic problems, both richand poor countries. But it is poor people who suffer the most,suffering hugely from food price increases," Max Lawson, apolicy adviser to Oxfam, a charity and advocacy group, toldreporters.
At its 2005 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, the G8 agreedto double aid to Africa by 2010 as part of a wider drive toalleviate global poverty.
But a report last month by the Africa Progress Panel, whichwas set up to monitor implementation of the Gleneaglescommitments, said that under current spending plans the G8 willfall $40 billion short of its target.
"There are good plans being developed. We also know whenefforts are made, great results can be achieved. But theproblem is these plans are not being backed by seriousfinancing," said Oliver Buston, a spokesman for activist groupONE.
"It is as if the G8 has built a car but they have not putany fuel in it. It is time for that to change."
LOSING TRACTION?
Monday's talks bring the G8 -- the United States, Japan,France, Britain, Germany, Canada, Italy and Russia -- togetherwith leaders of Algeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal,South Africa and Tanzania.
This year marks the half-way point in a drive to reach by2015 eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set by the U.N.General Assembly in September 2000 to reduce world poverty.
Japanese Foreign Ministry press spokesman Kazuo Kodamaacknowledged on Sunday that Africa was well behind target onhealth, but added: "G8 leaders will certainly deliver a strongand concrete message to help African countries to achieveMDGs."
With grain prices having doubled since January 2006, Africaneeds more help, not less, activists say.
A preliminary World Bank study released last week estimatedthat up to 105 million more people could drop below the povertyline due to rising food prices, including 30 million in Africa.
In Liberia, the cost of food for a typical household jumpedby 25 percent in January alone, increasing the poverty rate toover 70 percent from 64 percent, the study found.
PROTESTS, CLIMATE CHANGE
Many critics and even member countries question whether theG8, formed in 1975 with just six members in the wake of thefirst oil crisis, has the right mix and number of members to beeffective at solving complex global problems.
Anti-G8 protests have become a regular part of the annualevent, and on Monday hundreds of demonstrators from Japan andother countries marched in heavy rain toward the summit venue,carrying signs slamming the rich nations' cosy club.
Heavy security meant that they were kept several kilometres(miles) away.
"There is no end to the rise in oil prices and the G8 isnot doing enough. They don't have a solution," said RenatoReyes, who came from the Philippines for the protest.
One group tried to take an unauthorised route, but wereturned back by dozens of police carrying shields and shouting"Go back, go back". Scuffles were avoided after negotiationsbut some activists said they might try again the next day.
On Tuesday, discussions will turn to economic and politicalproblems. The contentious issue of how to fight global warmingwill be the focus of an expanded meeting on Wednesday that willinclude China and India, two fast-growing economies that arepumping out more and more greenhouse gases.
Deep divisions within the G8 as well as between rich andpoor nations have raised doubts about the chances for progressbeyond last year's summit, where the G8 agreed to "seriouslyconsider" a global goal of halving greenhouse gas emissions by2050.
(Additional reporting by Chikafumi Hodo and WilliamSchomberg)
