Put G8 wealth into struggle for democracy, says David Cameron

Britain could face a wave of immigration and "poisonous extremism" if wealthy nations do not step in to help fledgling democracies following the Arab Spring, David Cameron has warned.

The Prime Minister called on fellow leaders at the G8 summit yesterday to demonstrate they were "on the side" of reforming countries such as Egypt and Tunisia.

The US and UK are pushing for concrete pledges of financial aid at the two-day gathering in the northern French seaside town of Deauville.

Mr Cameron announced that Britain was allocating 110 million over the next four years for states implementing civic reforms.

Alongside Egypt and Tunisia, programmes to strengthen justice systems, cut corruption, encourage political parties, and broaden economic opportunities will be funded in Jordan and Morocco.

Aides claimed that, relative to the UK's economy, the commitment was in line with a $1 billion debt relief package unveiled by the United States.

"I want a very simple and clear message to come out of this summit, and that is that the most powerful nations on earth have come together and are saying to those in the Middle East and North Africa who want greater democracy, greater freedom, greater civil rights, we are on your side," Mr Cameron said.

"We will help you build your democracy, we will help your economies, we will help you build trade.

"We will help you in all the ways we can because the alternative to a successful democracy is more of the poisonous extremism that has done so much damage in our world."

The Prime Minister defended spending UK money on aid at a time when the government was implementing austerity measures.

"What I would say to everybody about the issue of overseas aid is that there is a real case for saying if you can secure greater democracy and freedom in countries like Egypt and Tunisia, that is good for us back at home," he said.

"That will mean less extremism, it will mean more peace and prosperity, it will mean there will not be the pressure on immigration that may otherwise face our country.

"These things are not just good for the countries we are talking about, Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, they are good for Europe, they are good for us in the UK."

Mr Cameron and President Barack Obama reiterated their determination to maintain the military pressure on Muammar al-Gaddafi after meeting in London on Wednesday.

But the Nato campaign in Libya provokes tensions among the G8 leaders, with Russia openly critical over the extent of strikes against the regime.

Fault lines are also emerging over Syria, as Moscow resists efforts to take action over the regime's brutal repression of protests. A resolution condemning the violent crackdown is due to go before the United Nations Security Council later.

Mr Cameron was holding bilateral talks with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev last night in which they were expected to touch on the issues.

And the G8 - made up of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and America - was due to be briefed today by the recently installed prime ministers of Egypt and Tunisia, Essam Sharaf and Beji Caid el Sebsi.

A delegation of executives, including Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Google chairman Eric Schmidt, addressed the world leaders yesterday.

French president Nicolas Sarkozy has been pressing for tighter international regulation to protect personal data online, and floating the idea of taxing web transactions. However, British sources signalled it was unlikely the summit would agree any substantive moves in those directions.

Diplomats have also indicated there is no prospect of further aid targets being agreed at Deauville.However, during discussions today, Mr Cameron is expected to stress the importance of countries meeting their promise to give 0.7 per cent of GDP in aid by 2015.

While the UK is on track for the target, other states are lagging behind and charities are demanding that the Prime Minister lobbies them to go further.

• The deputy leader of Libya's rebel administration has said it could take up to two years to organise elections, backtracking on promises of a six-month transition to democracy and adding to internal dissent already brewing within the movement seeking to topple Col Gaddafi.

The vice-chairman of the rebel leadership's National Transitional Council, Abdel-Hafidh Ghoga, said a one to two-year transition period would be needed.

In that time, he said, the opposition would form a transitional legislative body tasked with writing a constitution, hold a referendum on the charter, form political parties and then hold elections.