Britain boycotts 'flawed' world summit on hunger

The Secretary of State for Overseas Development, Clare Short, is boycotting the United Nations World Food Summit, which opened in Rome yesterday, saying it is flawed.

She accused the UN of focusing on food production rather than policies to deliver food to starving people.

Leaders of developed countries are conspicuous by their absence. The exceptions are the Spanish premier, Jose Maria Aznar and the Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, who is hosting the summit. This has prompted accusations that the West lacks concern for the world's 815 million hungry people and the impending famine in southern Africa.

Ms Short said in a statement: "I am not sending a minister because the starting point for this conference is flawed. The [UN food and Agriculture Organisation] FAO's measure of hunger is essentially one of food availability, which cannot tell you who is hungry and why. It needs to be combined with indicators of food consumption and a diagnosis of why so many people remain hungry when food is available, and to put in place policies which deliver food to hungry people not just to produce more food."

By contrast, the leaders of dozens of developing countries are leading delegations. The most controversial is the President of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, whose attendance provoked consternation from many. Mr Mugabe is widely accused of being responsible for the plight of 5 million Zimbabweans who are enduring food shortages because of his government's policy of seizing commercial farms and restriction on movements of food aid. The aid is allegedly being kept from opposition strongholds. The European Union imposed a travel ban on Mr Mugabe after he expelled election monitors, but an exception was made for UN summits.

At the first World Food Summit in 1996 leaders from 185 nations vowed to cut by half the number of hungry in the world – then at 841 million. The number now stands at 815 million.

Charges of empty rhetoric were levelled in speeches yesterday. The director general of the FAO, Jacques Diouf, spoke of words that did not reflect actions. Kofi Annan, the UN secretary general, gave a grim warning of impending famine in southern Africa, saying "the time for making promises is over". He also criticised subsidies for farmers in wealthy nations, saying: "You put yourself in the shoes of a small developing country, which cannot export agricultural products because of restrictions and tariffs, a developing country that cannot export and compete on world markets because its richer partners are heavily subsidised."

Among measures proposed to alleviate the situation were vegetarianism, cancelling debt and educating women.

A declaration adopted at the outset of the meeting stated that everyone had "the right ... to safe and nutritious food" but the United States continued to oppose the clause, fearing it would leave America open to future legal claims by famine-stricken countries.

Member countries agreed to launch a two-year study into the question. A declaration adopted by delegates yesterday also skirted around the sensitive issue of genetically modified crops,