The main sessions of U.N. climate talks in Copenhagen were suspended today in a protest led by African nations accusing rich countries of trying to wreck the existing U.N. Kyoto Protocol.

Developing countries walked out of working  groups at the UN climate talks, sources said. They were angry that the conference was weakening in support for the Kyoto  Protocol, the core emissions-curbing treaty, they said.
   

"They have walked out, I am advised, of the working groups," one Western  minister told journalists on condition of anonymity.  The minister added: "This is salvageable. It depends if people want to be constructive." The Australian Climate Change Minister, Penny Wong, said: "This is a walk-out over process and form, not a walkout over substance, and that's regrettable."

The move was unleashed by African countries, which had the support of the  G77 group of developing countries, they said. They refused to continue negotiations unless talks on a second commitment  period to the Kyoto Protocol were given priority over broader discussions on a  "long-term vision" for cooperative action on climate change.

The Kyoto Protocol ties the rich countries - but not developing countries  - that have ratified it to binding emissions curbs. It does not include the United States, which says the Protocol is unfair as  the binding targets do not apply to developing giants that are already huge  emitters of greenhouse gases.

"Africa has pulled the emergency cord to avoid a train crash at the end of  the week," said Jeremy Hobbs, executive director of Oxfam International,  referring to a summit on Friday due to be attended by about 120 heads of state  or government. "Poor countries want to see an outcome which guarantees sharp emissions  reductions yet rich countries are trying to delay discussions on the only  mechanism we have to deliver this - the Kyoto Protocol."

The minister added that the G77, for the same reason, was also blocking an  agreement, made yesterday, to have core problems at the climate talks addressed  informally at ministerial level in five pools, each chaired jointly by a  developing and developed country.

Source: Reuters/AFP