G8 pledge $20bn to Arab states as unrest continues

THE G8 leaders promised $20 billion (€14bn) in aid to Tunisia and Egypt yesterday and held out the prospect of billions more to foster the Arab Spring and the new democracies emerging from popular uprisings.

Unrest in Syria and Yemen is intensifying, with fears that the latter may be descending into civil war.

Likening Arab uprisings to the fall of the Berlin Wall that changed Europe, G8 leaders ending an annual summit in France launched a partnership for North Africa and the Middle East that ties aid and development credits to progress on political and economic reforms by states which have thrown off autocratic rulers.