Brazil will reject G7 Amazon aid unless Macron withdraws ‘insults’

BRASILIA      REUTERS, 27      Aug, 2019- Brazil  will reject an offer of at least $20 million from the Group of Seven  nations to fight fires in the Amazon rainforest unless French President  Emmanuel Macron withdraws his “insults,” President Jair Bolsonaro said  on Tuesday. 

 The two leaders have become embroiled in a deeply personal and  public war of words in recent days, with Bolsonaro mocking Macron’s wife  on Facebook and accusing the French leader of disrespecting Brazil’s  sovereignty. 

 Bolsonaro’s Chief of Staff Onyx Lorenzoni also said Brazil would  reject the G7 offer, according to news website G1, although his office  said that was his personal view.   Speaking to reporters in Brasilia on Tuesday, Bolsonaro appeared to adopt a slightly more conciliatory stance.   “Did I say that? Did I?” Bolsonaro said when questioned about Lorenzoni’s comments. 

 “First of all, Macron has to withdraw his insults. He called me a  liar. Before we talk or accept anything from France ... he must withdraw  these words then we can talk,” Bolsonaro said. 

“First he withdraws,  then offers (aid), then I will answer.”  Macron made the offer of  financial aid at the G7 summit in the southern French town of Biarritz  on Monday after leaders had discussed the fires ravaging the world’s  largest tropical rainforest - often dubbed “the lungs of the world”.