Nation: Summit on Cannibal island

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The West's Big Four join forces at "somewhat of a social affair"

Conferences in a thatched-roof cabana on a white sand tropical beach; neither fixed agenda nor formal briefings; swimming and sunbathing amid purple bougainvillaea and orange hibiscus. This was the new look of summitry as Jimmy Carter met for two days last week on the fashionable resort island of Guadeloupe—a spot that Christopher Columbus originally named Cannibal Island—with French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, British Prime Minister James Callaghan and West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt. But the informal and even sybaritic setting of the French island belied the gravity of the issues that the four leaders confronted during their summit in the sun. Their ambitious goal was, as Giscard put it before leaving Paris, to "evaluate the situation in the world."

One of the most pressing tasks was to assess the mounting danger of upheavals within the "crescent of crisis" stretching from the eastern Mediterranean to the Arabian Sea (see cover stories). Nearly as important was the opportunity for a free wheeling exchange about the West's changing relationship with Moscow and Peking, the deadlock over SALT, the U.S.S.R.'s continuing military buildup, and the warfare in southern Africa.

Carter has come to believe that personal contacts are important regardless of whether any decisions are reached. He generally chats with the other three by telephone about once a month. The allies had met at summits in London in 1977 and in Bonn last year. But these conclaves were attended by other nations (usually Canada, Italy and Japan) and were so tightly organized and filled with ceremonial that any real exchange of ideas proved difficult.

Giscard was chosen as host because no summit had been held under his auspices since 1975. When he issued the invitations for last week's gathering, he stressed the "personal and informal" nature of the talks. He then set some unusual ground rules in an attempt to avoid the protocol restrictions common at such high-level conferences. Banned were all official minutes and tape recordings of the sessions. Left behind at home were Cabinet ministers because, as one French official explained, "they always show up with all of their files." Although there were the usual legions of security personnel and communications experts to keep the leaders linked to their capitals, the official entourages were pretty trim compared with those of previous summits. Carter, for example, brought along only National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, White House Aide Hamilton Jordan, Press Secretary Jody Powell and a few other Administration staffers.

Specifically invited last week, however, were the leaders' wives. Carter used the opportunity not only to give Rosalynn a vacation but also to treat eleven-year-old Amy to a Caribbean holiday. While their husbands discussed global problems, Rosalynn, Audrey Callaghan and Hannelore Schmidt were shown around the island by Anne-Aymone, Giscard's wife. In the evenings, the women joined their spouses for dinner; the first night's menu included a local fish, cheese and French champagne. With the four First Ladies present, the summit was indeed, as Carter had predicted, "somewhat of a social affair."