LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair flies to Africa Wednesday with a warning for the West: tackle poverty on the world's poorest continent or risk renewed terrorism at home.
Blair will visit Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone and Senegal during his five-day trip, his official spokesman said. The precise itinerary remains under wraps due to security fears sparked by Blair's lead role in the U.S.-led war on terrorism.
Stung by criticism of his frequent travels, Blair made clear the West had a vested interest in helping the poor. Rich nations could not afford to let Africa spiral deeper into poverty and risk fomenting a new breeding ground for anti-Western terror.
"In today's world, mutual interest and self-interest increasingly walk hand in hand," Blair said in an interview with The Times newspaper. "We have got a duty to act. We can act."
He compared Africa with Afghanistan 10 years ago, when it was allowed "to deteriorate into a failed state living on drugs and terrorism ... In the end the impact was felt on the streets of America."
The trip has been long planned. But Blair's spokesman was at pains to play down what might be achieved.
"No one is pretending in a period of four days, you are going to solve the problems of Africa," the spokesman told reporters. "The test is ... what is concluded at the G8."
Blair championed a "Plan For Africa" when the Group of Eight leading nations met in Genoa last summer.
His aim was to increase aid and trade, help end conflicts and tackle diseases like AIDS. Concrete proposals were promised by the time the leaders next meet this June.
Last autumn, Blair told his Labor Party's annual conference Africa's poverty was a scar on the conscience of the world but could be healed. There has been little of substance since.
Canada, current head of the G8, is officially leading Western efforts and French President Jacques Chirac hosts a summit of African leaders Friday, some of whom have already grasped the nettle.
Late last year they launched a new plan, modeled on the post-war U.S. Marshall Plan for Europe, to target yearly investments of $64 billion to revive ailing African economies.
A leading official from The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) told reporters in London that African leaders thought it was primarily their responsibility to tackle the troubles of their continent.
Help from western leaders such as Blair was welcome, he said, to lend credibility and encourage investment, but he made it clear this was a pan-African effort, not one led by the West.
TROUBLED NIGERIA
Blair's visit comes as Nigeria, the most populous nation on the continent, suffers a fresh upsurge of tribal violence, with charred corpses on the streets of Lagos and around 100 dead.
The latest violence comes only days after 1,000 people were killed when a military weapons dump exploded in Lagos.
In a brief jaunt to Sierra Leone, Blair will meet British troops sent to support and train the army of Sierra Leone after a peace deal fell apart in May 2000 and rebel forces struck toward the capital, Freetown.
Blair will also take time to discuss Zimbabwe, where with elections nearing, President Robert Mugabe is clamping down on the media and opposition parties.
London has pushed for sanctions and suspension from the Commonwealth for its former colony.
A Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group meeting last week rejected its suggestion and the European Union also hesitated, saying it would not automatically trigger threatened sanctions.
Nor is Blair the best placed Briton to talk up action on Africa. Charities say it is Blair's finance minister, Gordon Brown, who has the record in helping the poorest countries.
Since 1997, Brown has pressed fellow finance ministers to write off swathes of debt that cripples poor nations, a crusade he will pursue at a G7 meeting in Ottawa this weekend.
"Gordon has a track record here. As for Mr. Blair, we wait with interest," the director of a leading aid organization said.
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