Bono plays down G8 deal hopes

ROCK star Bono last night delivered a downbeat assessment on the prospects of a G8 deal for African development.

After meeting with world leaders in Gleneagles, the U2 frontman said: “There is a sense that there is not a deal.”

The Irish musician said there had been “very tough meetings today, some risks being taken on both sides.”

But he added: “There is a sense that there is not a deal at the moment.

“A lot has been accomplished but there is no sense that there is a real deal, a 50 billion-dollar deal, we are not there on that. The trade language, we are not there on that. The debt stuff, we are there on that. It is tricky... These people are making very tricky choices back home.”

Bono singled out German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder as a man particularly under pressure as he faces forthcoming elections.

The German leader was “almost” ready to commit to 0.7% of national income in aid.

“We want to say to him, we know this is difficult, we know he’s going into an election, and we know the finance mechanism that has to be agreed for Germany to get to 0.7% is critical,” Bono said.

All the leaders needed to hear from their own voters that they wanted a deal done, he said.

“I’ve never felt it like this before. It is so important, still in the last 24 hours, that they hear from their constituents. There is still all to play for in the next 24 hours ... One last push.”

Bono was speaking after he and fellow Live 8 organisers Bob Geldof and Richard Curtis held talks with Prime Minister Tony Blair, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Canadian leader Paul Martin.

The group hoped to meet today with French President Jacques Chirac, who Geldof acknowledges would be feeling “a bit glum” after Paris’s Olympic defeat. Bono said: “Perhaps a full English breakfast tomorrow is not a good idea.”

Geldof said Mr Blair had warned them there was “fairly hard pounding ahead.”

The singer said he had never been at a G8 meeting where so much would be decided during the course of the summit.

“It is the highest poker but we must remember the chips we are playing with are the lives of the people who will go to bed hungry tonight,” he said.

Mr Bush had been “bullish” and had brought in his back pocket a deal to halve death from malaria which was “hugely significant”, he said.