Bush Returns To Summit Of World Leaders After Getting Upset Stomach

Friday, June 8th 2007, 7:12 am

By: News On 6

HEILIGENDAMM, Germany (AP) _ An upset stomach forced President Bush to skip some meetings at an international summit on Friday, but he rejoined the gathering after several hours of bed rest.

``He's not 100 percent, but he felt well enough to return to the talks,'' White House counselor Dan Bartlett told reporters.

The aide said the suspicion is that Bush fell ill with ``some sort of bug, probably more viral in nature'' and that it likely was unrelated to anything he ate at the summit of eight industrialized democracies being held at this seaside resort.

Laura Bush didn't feel well a few days ago either, Bartlett said, but didn't stop any of her activities.

Even while ill, Bush taped his weekly radio address, met as planned with France's new president and prepared for talks later Friday in Poland on a missile defense system.

The president already was dressed when he began feeling ill in the morning, Bartlett said. He stayed in bed for several hours to rest and recuperate, missing one session with African leaders and another with leaders from China, India, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa, all developing nations not G-8 members.

Bush returned to the talks in time for the closing lunch, where he engaged in extensive conversation with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Bush also met on the summit sidelines with Chinese President Hu Jintao and had a ``good talk'' about Darfur, Bush aides said.

Bush was expected to stick to his original travel schedule, Bartlett said, departing Germany for a meeting in Poland with President Lech Kaczynski, and then on to Rome.

His talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy away from the summit's formal business went ahead in the morning in Bush's private chambers instead of a meeting room.

Members of the Group of Eight on Friday reaffirmed two-year-old pledges to try to lift Africa out of poverty and fight the spread of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. The declaration came on the third and final day of the G-8 summit, where leaders also agreed to a new program worth more than $60 billion to fight disease in Africa.

Anti-poverty activists have complained that the world's richer countries have not kept their earlier promises to boost annual aid to poor countries.

The group also warned Iran over its disputed nuclear program, saying it would support ``adopting further measures'' if it fails to suspend enriching uranium, which can produce fuel for civilian energy or material for a bomb. The statement was a sign of support for U.N. Security Council moves to discuss a third set of sanctions against Iran.

Leaders also discussed a proposal on the Serbian province of Kosovo, which is seeking independence.

Bartlett joked that Bush's decision to steer clear of the other leaders for a while was a ``precautionary step'' to avoid following in the footsteps of his father, former President George H. W. Bush.

At a state dinner in Tokyo in January 1992, the elder Bush fainted and vomited.

The first hint that something was amiss with the current president came when Sarkozy alone met reporters after their meeting. He said, in French, that Bush was in his bedroom and that Bush's spokesmen would have to explain further.

Bartlett said they discussed several issues, including Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan, Darfur, trade and missile defense. It was their first meeting since Sarkozy took office May 16, and second overall; the first was last September in Washington.

Sarkozy said Bush invited him to come to the United States.

``The president felt that they established a real personal rapport,'' Bartlett said.

The new French president, seen as friendlier to the United States, will likely be a welcome change from the merciless tormenting Bush received from Sarkozy's predecessor, Jacques Chirac.

Sarkozy is one of a couple of new leaders that make Europe a more comfortable place for Bush to be these days _ even with the impending departure of Tony Blair, the British prime minister who has been Bush's most steadfast foreign ally. Several European countries oppose the Iraq war, and Bush faced public protests when he visited.

In Poland, Bush is seeing Kaczynski at that country's presidential retreat. The three-hour stop in Poland serves as a bookend to Bush's visit to the Czech Republic, which opened the trip. Bush has chosen both countries as the sites for a new missile defense system, which has been the source of a heated dispute with Russia.

On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin presented Bush with a surprise counterproposal built around an old Soviet-era radar system in Azerbaijan rather than in Poland and the Czech Republic. Bush said he would consider it.

Bartlett said Sarkozy was interested in hearing about Putin's substitute proposal, but that the discussion didn't go beyond that. He said Bush's talks with Kaczynski would be ``an important consultation.

``Don't expect to have definitive answers to a very complicated set of issues,'' he said. ``This is going to be a continuing dialogue with all interested parties.''

Azerbaijan's foreign minister, Elmar Mammadyarov, said Friday that the former Soviet republic is ready to consider proposed joint U.S.-Russian use of its radar facility.