Thousands of activists have gathered in Johannesburg for an alternative forum to the earth summit, which will press world leaders to stick to agreed targets and implement plans to save the planet.
The so-called Global Forum will be launched tomorrow in a Johannesburg stadium at a ceremony that will include speeches by South African President Thabo Mbeki and performances by African music icons such as Mali's Salif Keita and Nigerian Femi Kuti.
Global Forum chief organiser, the Rev Desmond Lesajane, said 10,000 activists and 1,520 journalists were already in the city and he expected the number to double by the weekend.
Activists for the environment, human rights, labour, women, youth and anti-globalisation will hold meetings in Nasrec - just south of Johannesburg - on how best to ensure that world leaders implement what they agree in Johannesburg.
Nasrec is home to a giant exhibition centre that can take in hundreds of thousands of people.
But budget woes that have dogged the forum's preparations meant that builders were still rushing to complete work there yesterday.
They will also hold massive protest marches around the wealthy Johannesburg suburb of Sandton, where intergovernmental meetings of the "official" earth summit will take place.
Global Forum organisers said they planned their biggest march during the earth summit on August 31st, and hoped to bring 100,000 protesters to Sandton.
However, they added that they could not rule out other smaller demonstrations during the summit.
The protests will aim to force governments to focus more on reducing poverty and fighting rampaging HIV and AIDS in poor countries.
They could also target the United States for massive farm subsidies, which are seen as undermining local agriculture.There will be tight security during the summit, as well as the Global Forum.
Some 26,000 security agents, including the army and airforce, have been called in to police the event, and South African police have said they will disperse unauthorised marches and detain activists involved in them.
"We cannot rule out that there will be spontaneous protests. In terms of the law, police are asking that everyone informs them of their intentions, but civil society will make its voice heard through all the means at its disposal," Rev Lesajane said.
Up to 100 heads of state are expected to attend the official summit but US President Bush and French President Chirac are expected to be major absentees.
Preparatory talks for the summit ended in deadlock on key issues in June, raising fears of a diplomatic fiasco.
- (Reuters)