SOUTH AFRICA:British prime minister Tony Blair has urged South Africa to intensify its efforts to negotiate a solution to the political crisis in neighbouring Zimbabwe.
Ahead of a meeting this morning with South African president Thabo Mbeki, who has been charged by regional governments with mediating in the Zimbabwe crisis, Mr Blair said: "We support SADC's [ Southern African Development Community] efforts to develop a clear plan, but, for the people of Zimbabwe, this is urgent - and change before the 2008 elections essential."
During an address to South African business and religious leaders at a university campus in Midrand, Mr Blair also defended his "avowedly interventionist" foreign policy.
"We did little or nothing as Rwanda slid into genocide," he conceded. "It is easy for people to mock the pretensions of an interventionist policy, and intervention never fares as well as we would like. But consider the alternative and then make the choice."
Mr Blair and Mr Mbeki are set to meet in Pretoria at the end of a two-day visit to South Africa by Mr Blair.
Zimbabwe, whose economy has been crumbling under President Robert Mugabe, will top the agenda.
On what is his last visit to Africa before leaving Downing Street next month, Mr Blair has also pledged British support for new African Union (AU) peacekeeping operations in Sudan and other conflict zones.
He said he would seek EU support for a rapid deployment fund that would allow AU troops to move quickly when required.
"It is unacceptable that the African Union operation in Darfur limps from month to month, from financial crisis to financial crisis. It is unacceptable that brave men and women involved in that operation do not have the equipment they need to do the job. And it is unacceptable that they do not receive the pay or per-diems they deserve because African countries lack the money."
Mr Blair paid a courtesy call on former president Nelson Mandela yesterday, and also visited a HIV/Aids clinic in Johannesburg.
He received a warm reception, although some sections of the media used the occasion to highlight his role in securing a controversial arms deal in 1999 that has since unsettled the South African government.
The 30 billion rand (€3.1 billion) deal, between South Africa and British arms company BAE, has been the subject of various allegations of corruption involving senior political figures in South Africa. There are separate investigations under way in Britain and Germany into alleged kickbacks.
While not mentioning the controversy yesterday, Mr Blair stressed the need for good governance in Africa, citing Zimbabwe and Sudan as two countries where "bad government and violent oppression sent the country's economy spiralling down".
He said the challenge for wealthy countries such as Britain was to support good governments, "and Africa's challenge is to eliminate the bad".
South Africa continues to defend its policy of "quiet diplomacy" on Zimbabwe.
Foreign minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma told parliament earlier this week: "You must not push the country over the brink; you must pull it back from the brink. That is our approach."