Harper too busy to meet Bono on aid for Africa during G8 summit in Germany

By ALEXANDER PANETTA

KUHLUNGSBORN, Germany (CP) - Rock star Bono has been refused a meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper this week to discuss aid for Africa, sources close to the Irish singer said Wednesday.

"They made several requests," said the source, who has close ties to Bono's development work.

The U2 singer regularly discusses aid issues with world leaders.

He has already met the summit host, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, as well as U.S. President George W. Bush - who also met music producer Bob Geldof and Senegalese singer Youssou N'Dour. "Hanging out with good company, aren't I?" Bush remarked before retiring for the night.

But a spokeswoman for Harper said the prime minister is too busy to meet with Bono at the summit. She said the prime minister would be happy to speak with him at some later date.

"He's really busy, packed for time. He's meeting with world leaders and that's what the G8's all about," said Harper spokeswoman Sandra Buckler.

"Obviously the prime minister has a very full agenda for the next two days but after the G8 I see no problem with them having a chat."

She noted that the prime minister has spoken to Bono in the past.

Development groups say G8 countries are falling woefully short of the pledge they made in 2005 to increase foreign aid by $50 billion by the end of the decade.

Geldof called Canada a main culprit in trying to block the G8 leaders from making another specific aid pledge to Africa this week.

But the Canadian government has countered that it is leading the entire G8 in keeping promises made at the 2005 summit in Scotland and in 2002 at Kananaskis, Alta.

The group promised in 2002 to double aid by the end of the decade, and promised in 2005 to boost aid by $50 billion. Based on Canada's economic size, the non-government agency Oxfam calculates this country's share of the 2005 pledge to be about $2 billion.

"We are on track to meeting our commitment for doubling our aid to Africa," Buckler said.

"And we are doing it ahead of the rest of the G8."

Harper has promised that Canada's aid budget will reach the international average of donor countries as a percentage of GDP, and continue an eight-per-cent annual increase started under the Liberals.

He also recently pledged more than $100 million in conjunction with Microsoft founder Bill Gates to help find an AIDS vaccine.

But Oxfam says that even though Canada has raised its aid budget to $4 billion, it still lies about $1 billion shy of the target it set in 2005, and is much farther from achieving the international objective that Canada spearheaded in the 1960s.

The country remains less than half way to reaching an aid budget of 0.7 per cent of GDP, established as the international objective under a drive led by the late Lester Pearson.

Activists say that as one of the richest countries in the world, with arguably the healthiest public finances in the G8, Canada has no excuse for falling so short of that target.

Oxfam Canada spokesman Mark Fried is at the summit and says Canada isn't doing as badly as fellow G8 members like Italy and Germany, whose recent efforts he describes as "nothing" and "pitiful."

"But even if they meet the (G8) targets they'd still come up woefully short," Fried said.

"This is the bare minimum of what Canada should do."