Climate deal worst in history—G77

COPENHAGEN – A major bloc of developing nations on Saturday called a draft climate deal in Copenhagen the “worst in history” and hinted it may try to block it.

Lumumba Stanislas Dia-ping of Sudan, chairing the Group of 77 and China bloc of 130 poor nations, accused the United States and host Denmark of trampling on the rights of poor countries.

“Today’s events really represent the worst developments in climate change negotiations in history,” Dia-ping told reporters.

“The deal locks developing countries and the poor of developing countries into a cycle of poverty forever.”

But it remained to be seen if he would have all developing nations on board as leaders of key nations including China, India, Brazil and South Africa had negotiated personally with US President Barack Obama.

The 194-nation summit was due to meet in the early hours Saturday to review the deal negotiated among major wealthy and developing nations.

Under the rules of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which leads the summit, any agreement has to be approved by consensus.

Dia-ping said Sudan did not agree with the consensus but declined to say clearly whether the delegation would try to block it.

Dia-ping has complained throughout the conference that major countries had thrashed out details behind closed doors and not in the full session, which was dominated by speeches from leaders.

“President Obama, acting the way he did, definitely eliminated any differences between him and the Bush presidency,” Dia-ping said.

Bolivia also criticized the process.

“How can 25 or 30 countries cook up a deal that excludes the majority of the world’s more than 190 nations?” said Pablo Solon, Bolivia’s ambassador to the United Nations.

“We’ve been negotiating for months on one of the most serious crises of our time and now our voices don’t count for anything?” Solon said.

US and European officials countered it was too unwieldy to hold efficient negotiations among nearly 200 countries, with discussions often hung up on process. –Agence France-Presse