African leaders have urged the G8 to tackle spiking oil and food prices, warning the crisis threatens to aggravate an already desperate plight in the continent.
The call came as leaders gathered for their annual summit in northern Japan with a special session also attended by seven African leaders.
Riot police with shields blocked protesters who had camped out in drenching rain from getting anywhere near the plush hotel where the world's top leaders were meeting.
The G8 nations are under mounting pressure to live up to their promises to help.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the African leaders - from Algeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania - demanded action as the global food and fuel crisis has hit the continent's most vulnerable people the hardest.
Food prices have nearly doubled in three years and set off riots in parts of the developing world, which are also being hit hard by record oil prices - a joint crisis that is the primary focus of G8 leaders in Japan.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who attended the start of the summit, backed the African leaders and called on G8 nations to live up to their promises to double aid for Africa by 2010.
The UN's Millennium Development Goals were launched in 2000 and involve an eight-point action plan to reduce poverty and improve healthcare and education in Africa by 2015.
But G8 nations are falling behind on the goals and skyrocketing food and oil prices have aggravated the problem.
European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso proposed the creation of a €1bn EU fund to fight hunger and help farmers in poor countries with seeds and fertiliser.
G8 leaders also pushed for possible sanctions on Zimbabwe.
Mr Ban said he would also hold talks with African leaders on the Zimbabwe crisis and press for movement in the fight against climate change.
The US is the only major industrial nation to shun the Kyoto Protocol as it pushes for more commitment from developing nations.
Last year's G8 summit agreed that the leaders would 'consider seriously' at least halving carbon emissions by 2050.
