PM slams 'grandstanding'

2009-11-07 20:08

Nairobi - Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga criticised on Saturday a walkout by African states during climate talks in Barcelona as "grandstanding" which did not help developing countries' case at the talks.

"I believe for example that grandstanding ... like walking out of meetings like African delegations did in Barcelona just doesn't help. You cannot just run away from this problem," Odinga told AFP in an interview.

African countries staged a show of force during a five-day meeting in Barcelona, boycotting one of the twin tracks in the talks for a day, accusing rich countries of dragging their feet on curbing greenhouse gas emissions.

They demanded cuts of more than 40% from advanced economies by 2020 over 1990 levels.

Odinga said overall that the outcome of the Barcelona talks left him feeling "very pessimistic" about the chances of an international climate change deal being struck at next month's Copenhagen conference.

"I am very pessimistic about the outcome of Copenhagen. Up to now no firm commitment has been made by developed countries to support developing countries' to adapt to the effects of climate change," Odinga said in an interview with AFP, calling it "very worrying and disappointing".

This week's talks in Barcelona, the last multilateral talks before the final Copenhagen summit next month, left a lot of uncertainties and mean that a full treaty will not be signed before 2010 at the earliest.

Odinga reiterated that African countries are seeking the setting up of an international fund topped up with $200bn a year to help poor countries deal with the consequences of climate change brought on for the most part by the industrialisation of the developed world.

Odinga, one of the African leaders most involved in climate change negotiations said he hoped "common sense is going to prevail" and that a compromise will be struck.

- AFP