Hundreds of activists attend the seventh anti-G8 summit in the Malian city
of Kalibougou.

KALIBOUGOU, MALI (JULY 7, 2008) REUTERS -
 As the leaders of the developed world meet in Hokkaido, Japan this
week, hundreds of activists opened their own gathering - the Seventh Summit of
the anti-G8, in Katibougou, Mali.
    The anti-summit is taking place in the agricultural faculty of
Koulikoro's university in Kalibougou, some 60 kilometres down river from
Mali's capital Bamako.
    The gathering's first session and workshops took place on Monday (July
7), delayed by some heavy rains. 
    There are 13 different workshops covering various aspects of
globalisation and development issues. 
    Some 800 participants are attending the meeting. African delegates
include those from Mali, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Benin, Togo,
Morocco, Mauritania, and both Democratic Republic of Congo and the Congo
Republic. Delegations from Belgium, France and Canada are also
participating.
    The main aim of the gathering is to provide a
"counterbalance" to the G8 meet.
    Aminata Barry Touré, president of the African Development Coalition and
also president of the summit, said there were a number of items on its agenda.

    "The main subjects are immigration and globalisation, also the
problems of agriculture, we have the problems related to indebtedness, and the
problems of increasing cost of living, and the exploitation and plunder of
natural resources," she said.
    Ibrahim Coulibaly, a Malian farmer attending the summit, said one of
the conference's objectives was to "start forming alliances between the
producers and consumers in order to enable local production find its
appropriate place on the market."
    Coulibaly added that the issue of genetically modified seeds was
another issue being addressed at the summit. 
    The official Group of Eight (G8) summit brings together Britain,
Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States in Japan
from July 7-9.