Blair Seeks Bush Support on 2 Initiatives


WASHINGTON - A U.S. commitment to providing $674 million for famine relief in Africa may take some of the sting out of President Bush's opposition to a proposal by British Prime Minister Tony Blair to spend even more money.



However, the other issue topping Blair foreign policy this year — fighting global warming — may further strain his relationship with Bush. Blair has made the issues the twin focus of Britain's yearlong chairmanship of the G-8 group of wealthy nations, yet Bush has rejected many of his close ally's ideas on Africa and the environment.

Bush is welcoming Blair to Washington on Tuesday, their first meeting since Blair won a third term in office and his Labour Party suffered heavy losses in Parliament, largely because of voters' unhappiness about his support for the Iraq war.

The joint initiative for famine relief that they were announcing at the White House comes after Blair proposed doubling aid to Africa. The amount of Britain's contribution to the new program was not disclosed, but it was said to be less than that of the United States.

Blair is likely to be disappointed by the U.S. commitment. He has been pushing a broad, long-term — and far more costly — effort to help Africa's economy get on its feet, not just emergency food aid. He also wants G-8 countries to commit new money for Africa rather than reallocating funds already earmarked for foreign assistance.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the $674 million commitment should be considered separate from any G-8 action. He said the United States is still discussing debt relief for African nations with other members of the G-8, although he would not discuss what additional aid the U.S. might be willing to commit to before Bush's meeting with Blair.

The money the U.S. has already committed will be drawn from funds already approved for an Agriculture Department food aid account and other funds available in a recent supplemental appropriation.

Besides focusing on the food needs of 14 million people vulnerable to famine in Ethiopia and Eritrea, the joint initiative will address humanitarian needs in Somalia and Djibouti, McClellan said.

"The two leaders will also be calling on other countries to increase their funding to meet this emergency," McClellan said. "This is something that is needed now, in the coming months."

Blair, the host of this year's summit of the major eight industrialized democracies, hopes to use the meeting in early July in Gleneagles, Scotland, to raise an extra $50 billion a year by selling bonds on the world's capital markets.

"It doesn't fit our budgetary process," Bush said last week. The Bush administration says the mechanism would conflict with U.S. budget laws by binding future governments to providing money.

Blair acknowledged in an interview published Tuesday that he will not win U.S. support for his plans to double aid to Africa or the Kyoto Protocol on global warming, but insisted progress could still be made on Britain's G-8 priorities.

Speaking to the Financial Times newspaper before leaving Monday, Blair said there were "certain things we know they are not going to do." Asked if he thought he could persuade Bush to shift some ground, Blair responded: "Wait and see. There's all sorts of ways people can get into this argument. We are at the beginning of the process."

Bush and Blair, in a joint news conference Tuesday afternoon, were calling on other countries to increase their commitment to address humanitarian emergencies in Africa, the White House official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the announcement has not been formally made. Besides the $674 million, the United States has earmarked $1.4 billion requested by the United Nations to address emergency needs.

The prime minister's visit is part of a blitz of trips he's taking to lobby foreign leaders on Africa and global warming ahead of the G-8 summit. He recently saw Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi in Rome, and in the coming weeks he will visit Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

American support is crucial to Blair, but he may face an uphill fight to win it on global warming. The president opposes the Kyoto Protocol, and his administration questions scientists' views that man-made pollutants are causing temperatures to rise.

On Monday, Blair's official spokesman said the prime minister wasn't looking for a major breakthrough in Washington. Britain and the United States agree that Africa is a priority, the spokesman added.

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