World leaders stand united against London bombings
World leaders stood shoulder to shoulder with Tony Blair at the G8 summit today to condemn the “barbaric” London bombings.
The British Prime Minister was flanked by the heads of 12 other governments, the UN and European Commission as he delivered a joint statement declaring: “The terrorists will not succeed.”
He said: “We are united in our resolve to confront and defeat this terrorism that is not an attack on one nation but on all nations and on civilised people everywhere.
“Today’s bombings will not weaken in any way our resolve to uphold the most deeply-held principles of our societies and to defeat those who would impose their fanaticism and extremism on all of us.”
All differences were put aside as the solemn leaders assembled in the Barony room of the Gleneagles Hotel, the summit venue in Scotland.
United States President George Bush stood at the right shoulder of the Prime Minister, while French counterpart Jacques Chirac, the leading critic of war in Iraq, stood at the left.
Mr Bush later pledged that those responsible for the London bombings would be brought to justice, adding: “It’s a war on terror for us all.
“I was most impressed by the resolve of all the leaders in the room. Their resolve is as strong as my resolve, and we will not yield to these people,” President Bush said.
As he was spoke, Mr Blair was making an emergency helicopter dash to London to meet emergency service leaders dealing with the devastation.
Mr Blair will return tonight to the G8 summit and all those attending were determined that it would continue in his absence.
Top civil servant Sir Michael Jay chaired the scheduled discussions on climate change until Foreign Secretary Jack Straw arrived to take charge.
Mr Blair’s official spokesman said that work in building a consensus had been going well before he departed and success could be expected if discussions continued in a similar nature.
A statement on the issue expected this evening will now come tomorrow, along with another on Mr Blair’s other twin aim of African development.
The Prime Minister will sum up the discussions at a press conference before returning to London in the afternoon.
The day started at Gleneagles in Perthshire on an optimistic note, with the UK and US leaders appearing to pave the way for an agreement on global warming.
In bright sunshine, Mr Blair and Mr Bush enjoyed breakfast together on the hotel terrace before facing the media.
The President began by joking about his cycling accident on Wednesday, saying: “It’s a beautiful day for a bike ride.”
Within minutes of the joint press conference ending the first reports of explosions in London were reaching the summit.
Mr Blair was meeting Chinese President Hu Jintao and Scotland’s First Minister Jack McConnell as the first sketchy accounts emerged.
It was only when those talks were over that Mr Blair was informed and began to prepare his first televised statement, delivered at noon.
“Just as it is reasonably clear that this is a terrorist attack, or series of attacks, it is also reasonably clear that it is designed and aimed to coincide with the opening of the G8,” he said.
An hour later the Prime Minister delivered an extraordinary joint statement in a room containing a dozen fellow government leaders and Kofi Annan from the United Nations and Jose Manuel Barroso of the European Commission.
Alongside him from the G8 were not only Presidents Bush and Chirac, but also Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi, Canada’s Paul Martin, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Germany’s Gerhard Schroeder and Japan’s Junichiro Koizumi.
The leaders from the five emerging nations were the Chinese President and Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, South Africa’s Thabo Mbeki, India’s Manmohan Singh and Mexico’s Vicente Fox.
The UN special envoy to the Mddle East and leading officials from international financial institutions were also in the room.
“We will not allow violence to change our societies or our values,” Mr Blair declared.
“Nor will we let it stop the work of this summit. We will continue our deliberations in the interests of a better world.
“Here at this summit, the world’s leaders are striving to combat world poverty and save and improve human life.
“The perpetrators of today’s attacks are intent on destroying life.”
Mr Blair said: “We shall prevail and they shall not.”
| Related Stories: |
|
