SOUTH AFRICA: British Prime Minister Tony Blair due to bid farewell to Nelson Mandela

Record ID: 452827

  • Title: SOUTH AFRICA: British Prime Minister Tony Blair due to bid farewell to Nelson Mandela
  • Date: 31st May 2007
  • Summary: (W2) JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA, (MAY 31, 2007), (GCIC- POOL) BRITISH PRIME MINISTER TONY BLAIR AND HIS WIFE CHERRY BLAIR (HOLDING FLOWERS) ON RED CARPET VARIOUS OF TONY BLAIR GREETING SOUTH AFRICAN GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS BLAIR SMILING AND WALKING TO CAR, WAVING, GETTING INSIDE CAR CHERRY BLAIR HOLDING FLOWERS PRESIDENTIAL CEREMONIAL GUARD WITH BRITISH FLAG BLAIR SEATED INSIDE THE CAR MOTORCADE DRIVING OFF
  • Embargoed: 15th June 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: South Africa
  • Country: South Africa
  • Reuters ID: LVAF1ZFGJO0Z7Q9ZQNGRJKNFE4UI
  • Story Text: British Prime Minister Tony Blair, accompained by his wife Cherry landed early on Thursday (May 31) at Johannesburg airpot at start of a trip where he is expected to ask South Africa to step up pressure on Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, whose country is sliding towards economic collapse.
    South Africa is Blair's third stop on a trip aimed at building momentum for a rich nation summit that will focus on Africa and also to push for a world trade deal.
    Blair, who has already visited Libya and Sierra Leone, is making one of his last overseas trips before he resigns on June 27 and hands over power to finance minister Gordon Brown.
    The British prime minister is due to deliver a major policy speech on Africa and bid farewell to anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela later on Thursday before holding talks with president Thabo Mbeki on Friday (June 1).
    Zimbabwe is expected to be high on the agenda. The two countries have taken starkly different approaches to the southern African country's crisis, with Britain pushing for more public action and South Africa advocating a policy of "quiet diplomacy" in hopes of nudging Mugabe into making changes.
    The visit takes place on the eve of the Group of Eight Summit scheduled for Germany during which Chancellor Angela Merkel has vowed to press rich nations to fulfil aid pledges to Africa under a 2005 Blair initiative.
    In Sierra Leone on Wednesday (May 30), Blair called on Western countries to finance, train and equip African peacekeeping troops so they could intervene to end conflicts on the continent like the one in Sudan's Darfur.
  • Copyright Holder: POOL (CAN SELL)
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register