Geldof defends his mission

A thousand extremely dishevelled demonstrators poured out of a dozen blue double-decker buses in the centre of Edinburgh yesterday after a painfully slow eleven-and-a-half hour trip from London.

Bob Geldof boarded each bus as it arrived to thank the new arrivals for what had been a fairly gruelling journey.

The encounter, which brought the Live8 campaigner face-to-face with those who share his determination to press for change from the G8, exposed some revealing faultlines in the attitudes of the demonstrators - as did his venture out to the coast immediately after.

On the esplanade at the little harbour of Crammond a multi-faith group were holding a prayer vigil.

"Just as there is a vigil outside a prison the night before someone faces the death penalty," one of the organisers told him, "so there will be a vigil here on the eve of a day when 30,000 people will die needlessly somewhere in Africa, as they will tomorrow, and as they do every day."

Those assembled were a mixed bunch, with Ghanaian drummers in flimsy white cotton following a Scottish bagpiper as the village children, cardinals and bishops, rabbis, Sikh women, Muslim men and the odd Hindu and Buddhist each piled a stone onto a cairn which - Edinburgh's Lord Provost, Lesley Hinds, said - symbolised the cumulative effect of individual endeavour.

At the end of the ceremony Geldof was confronted by a colourfully dressed group of characters who introduced themselves as Corporate Pirates.

"You're doing a great job," one said, "but we're worried that you're getting too cosy with the G8 leaders. They'll only disappoint you in the end."

Maybe, the Live 8 organiser said, maybe not. "What about aid? If we get, as looks likely, the extra US$25 billion a year recommended by the Commission for Africa, won't that be something to celebrate? And if they find financial mechanisms to pay for the US$40 billion debt write-off they've already promised, won't that be worthwhile? And if they come up with instructions, in strong language, to trade negotiators at the world trade talks in December? and if they fix a date for the end of subsidising agricultural exports? Won't that be a beginning?"

"A beginning, yes, but …"

"Yes, but its a process. You have to proceed by steps."

Many in the Make Poverty History movement want more. They want the G8 not just to pledge an extra US$25 billion for Africa, but at least US$50 billion more in aid for the whole developing world. And they want rich countries to meet the UN target of spending 0.7 per cent of their national income on aid by 2010 at the latest.

"That would be great," said Geldof as he boarded a helicopter with his fellow campaigner Bono to fly into Gleneagles for a last-minute pre-summit lobbying meeting with George Bush.

(They also had lined up separate private sessions with Tony Blair, Jacques Chirac and Gerhard Schroeder.)

"We're not lowering the bar, but we have to be realistic about what is achievable at this summit. And be prepared to say Well Done if they do it."

- INDEPENDENT