Tony Carnie

ETHIOPIAN leader Meles Zenawi has come under fire for suggesting that African nations are prepared to be “flexible” on the future of the Kyoto climate change protocol.

The comments made by Meles last week have been interpreted in some quarters as a signal that African climate change negotiators might be preparing to compromise on one of the continent’s key negotiating platforms at the 17th UN Conference of the Parties climate change talks which start in Durban next week.

Meles heads the AU’s climate change negotiation process and also represented the continent during the failed negotiations in Copenhagen two years ago, where the future of the Kyoto protocol was deferred.

Principle

Speaking after a meeting of the Conference of African Heads of State and Government on Climate Change, Meles said: “While we have a very clear position of principle on this matter, we are aware that there are divergent opinions, and we are eager to engage all those actors on the Kyoto Protocol, with the purpose of at least salvaging the essence of the Kyoto Protocol.

“That will be our objective, but the means to that objective will be to engage all the key actors in Durban in a very flexible manner.”

Reacting to Meles’s comments, Pan African Climate Justice Alliance co-ordinator Mithika Mwenda said at the weekend that talk about flexibility suggested that African leaders were getting ready to compromise.

Alliance members said: “It is indeed a cruel irony that as stronger droughts are punishing the people of the Horn of Africa, African leaders are already signalling their intention to weaken African demands in Durban.”