SHARM EL-SHEIK, Nov 10 (Reuters) - African nations must be allowed to develop their fossil fuel resources to help lift their pepole out of poverty, governments said at the COP27 talks in Egypt, which welcomed leaders of oil and gas companies sidelined at previous talks. African nations said wealthy countries had failed to deliver promised funding that would help them to expand clean energy instead of exploiting their fossil fuel resources. Some 636 fossil fuel lobbyists were registered to attend COP27, another report from a group of organisations that analysed the U.N.'s provisional list of attendees found. That's 100 lobbyists more than attended the Glasgow COP26 summit last year, the group said, lamenting what it described as "rise in the influence of the fossil fuel industry". The analysis also counted delegation members acting on behalf of their country's fossil fuel industry.

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