Blair says peace key to African development

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, in Nigeria on the first leg of a West African tour, told a joint session of the legislature on Thursday that peace was the key to Africa's development. Blair, who arrived in Nigeria on Wednesday, met with President Olusegun Obasanjo on Thursday before heading to the parliament to give his thoughts on a partnership between Africa and the international community to rescue the continent from poverty. A first necessary step, he said, was the resolution of the various violent conflicts afflicting Africa. "Since 1960 over eight million Africans have died as a result of war," Blair said. "The prerequisite for development in Africa is peace." His visit comes in the wake of recent devastations wrought by the destruction of an army armoury in Lagos and ethnic clashes in the same city. At least 1,000 people died fleeing the exploding shells and about 100 people were killed in the fighting between Hausa and Yoruba communities. Both developments underscored fresh tensions that have gripped Africa's most populous country, threatening to aggravate widespread poverty and social unrest. However, he said, "Africa deserves a new partnership not out of desperation but out of hope for the future." No part of the world would be secure unless every part of the world was made safe, he said, pointing out that the current state of Africa was "a sore on the conscience of the world". He commended Nigeria for its peacekeeping activities in West Africa, adding that he was proud of the role the country played with Britain in bringing peace to Sierra Leone. Blair is also due to visit Sierra Leone, Ghana and Senegal during his tour. The international human rights group, Human Rights Watch, in an open letter to Blair ahead of his visit, urged him to speak out about Nigeria's declining respect for human rights. "Halfway through the four-year term of Olusegun Obasanjo's presidency, the overall human rights picture in Nigeria remains poor," Human Rights Watch said. "Despite investigations into past abuses, there have been alarming developments, in particular recurring violence between ethnic or religious groups in several parts of the country." Equally of concern, the group said, was the government's continuing use of brutal repression. Instances Human Rights Watch named include the killing of at least 200 civilians by soldiers in central region Benue State in October 2001, and the sacking of the town of Odi in the Niger Delta two years earlier, during which the group estimates up to 2,000 people may have been killed.