Singer and campaigner Bono said today that world leaders at the G8 summit had produced a "deliberately misleading" pledge to fight Aids and other diseases.
"I am exasperated," Bono told said from the Baltic resort where leaders from the world's rich nations were rounding off their three-day summit. "I think it is deliberately the language of obfuscation. It is deliberately misleading," he added.
Bono
G8 leaders announced a $60 billion pledge to fight Aids, malaria and tuberculosis with great fanfare but many activists were disappointed that they failed to set a timetable for the spending plans and that it contained little new money.
The declaration set out no specific timetable, saying the money would flow "over the coming years". Neither did it break down individual countries' contributions or spell out how much of the sum had been previously promised.
"They have taken language hostage. We wanted numbers, but this is buro-babble," Bono said, criticising the lack of a timeline and the fact that the pledge did not apply specifically to Africa.
"It is not real in any language. We are looking for accountable language and numbers. I might be be a rock star, but I can count."
The U2 singer and campaigner, who has been in Heiligendamm holding private meetings with G8 leaders, identified Italy and Canada as the main obstacles to a more ambitious deal.
He also expressed disappointment that German chancellor Angela Merkel, the summit host, had not managed to convince her counterparts to make concrete commitments.
"We wanted her to be an honest broker - she has a history of that - but she hasn't managed to rein them in. I think Merkel showed passion and commitment but she hasn't turned that into real outcomes."
G8 leaders also restated pledges made to double aid spending made two years ago at a summit in Gleneagles in Scotland.
"They say they will keep their pledges on Africa, but it is remarkable. In a 25 page document we can't see any evidence of how they are going to get to those. It is a maze," the rock star said.
Ms Merkel, hosting G8 leaders and leaders of five African states, trumpeted the agreement as a showpiece outcome of the three-day summit, along with Thursday's deal to push for greenhouse gas emissions cuts.
"We are conscious of our obligations and want to fulfil the promises we made. And we will do that," said Ms Merkel.
But Helen Keogh, chief executive of World Vision Ireland, said the pledge was a "disappointing and drastic step away" from promises made at Gleaneagles in 2005 and that the G8 decisions would "cost lives".
Helen Keogh, World Vision Ireland
"This is not new money and the failure of the G8 to make the necessary progressive commitments is going to cost lives. That this is coming on top of the leaders' disappointing progress on delivering the commitments made at Gleneagles and in St Petersburg last year causes great concern to those of us working at the grassroots development level," she said.
Ms Keogh urged the Irish Government to leverage its "excellent reputation" on overseas development to ensure the global community continues to fight the HIV/Aids pandemic.
Steve Cockburn of the Stop Aids Campaign said the pledge fell short of UN targets obliging G8 nations to spend $15 billion per year to combat AIDS alone through to 2010.
In comparison, the deal looks like committing them to about $12 billion per year for all three diseases.