Blair fears Zimbabwe crisis may harm anti-poverty drive

Tony Blair's ability to persuade next week's G8 summit at Gleaneagles to mount a full-scale assault on poverty in Africa may be limited by the crisis in Zimbabwe.

British ministers fear that the Mugabe regime's latest crackdown, which has cost 400,000 people their homes and livelihoods, could make it harder to convince the world's richest nations to agree to a "step change" in their support for Africa.

In a further setback for Mr Blair, the G8 summit may stop short of condemning events in Zimbabwe in its formal communique.

Although Mr Blair and US President George Bush will strongly criticise the actions of President Robert Mugabe in their press conferences at Gleaneagles, Russia is expected to oppose any tough criticism being included in the G8 declaration.

Instead, Britain is pinning its hopes on the United Nations Security Council passing a strongly-worded resolution on Zimbabwe after a report back by the UN's special envoy, Anna Tibaijuka, who is visiting the country.

The British Government is confident of a deal to cancel billions of pounds of debt by African countries.

But Mr Blair's hopes of raising direct aid to the continent to US$25 billion a year, as recommended by the Commission for Africa he set up, could be harder to achieve.

The United States, which has always demanded that higher aid payments be matched by better governance, may be reluctant to help Africa at a time when other African nations are pointedly refusing to condemn Zimbabwe.

One British source said: "There is a danger that some people will argue that Africa has got to do more to put its own house in order. There are fears that Zimbabwe will cast a shadow over the summit. The timing is not exactly helpful."

Thabo Mbeki, the South African President, will be at Gleneagles and is expected to come under strong pressure from Britain and America to "come off the fence" by denouncing recent developments in neighbouring Zimbabwe.

Yesterday Mr Blair hinted at his private fears that progress on Africa at the summit could be constrained by events in Zimbabwe.

Speaking at Prime Minister's Questions, he said: "We are going to the G8 to try and make the case for helping poverty in Africa. There is no doubt at all that it is harder to make that case while abuses of governance and corruption occur in African countries.

"I don't believe that what is happening in Zimbabwe should prevent us taking action on poverty in Africa. But it is right also to say that we should draw attention not just to the abuses in Zimbabwe but the urgent necessity of changing what is happening there for the benefit of its own citizens."

Mr Blair said he would continue to tell President Mbeki that he should speak out over what he called "the appalling cases of torture and abuse of human rights that occur on a daily basis in Zimbabwe."

He added: "We will continue to exert all the pressure we can. But in the end the best pressure will come from those countries surrounding Zimbabwe. We have to make sure that African countries realise the deep responsibility there is to sort this out themselves."

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, joined calls for a moratorium on deporting failed asylum seekers from Britain to Zimbabwe.

He said such deportations would be "a gross injustice" in the light of the conduct of the Mugabe regime.

"The government of Zimbabwe appears to be conducting a sustained, systematic campaign of terror against its own citizens. I share the frustration of all people of good will at this violation of basic human dignity and of international law," he said.

Despite growing signs that an unofficial suspension on returning people to Zimbabwe has been imposed, Downing Street denied that the Government had made a U-turn. It said: "It's always been the case that if individual MPs raise individual cases they are investigated, but the Government's policy has not changed."

Church leaders from around the world urged G8 leaders to make the necessary changes to wipe out poverty.

A statement released during the Transatlantic Forum on Global Poverty at Lambeth Palace in London said: "For the first time in history, humanity possesses the information, knowledge, technology, and resources to bring the worst of global poverty virtually to an end. What is missing is sufficient political and moral will."

The church leaders from diverse Christian traditions said: "We call upon President George Bush, Prime Minister Tony Blair and the other G8 leaders to provide courageous and costly political leadership by providing the resources and making the structural changes necessary to eradicate poverty."

- INDEPENDENT