SOUTH AFRICA: Tony Blair visit: speech at University of South Africa Business School

SOUTH AFRICA: Tony Blair visit: speech at University of South Africa Business School; - And there is the possibility now in a different and more strategic approach, based on partnership rather than aid alone, of real transformational change in the years to come - For that to happen, the wealthy nations must hold to the path set out in the MDGs and the Gleneagles G8; and Africa must take its responsibilities seriously and develop in the way NEPAD and the G8 partnership provides - We have to stay with it for the long haul; commit and re-commit; never let it be said we are not trying, even if it cannot always be said we are succeeding / We now have a broad political consensus for Africa in the UK, excellent, we need the same in the EU, we need each G8 to be bolder than the last - If we do this, and Africa responds as an equal partner, we will have set a strategic goal that in time we will achieve; and in a continent in which the power of China is rising dramatically, we can work with China to serve the development of Africa in a way which benefits us all - But if we give up, we will lose the chance in this continent - rich as it is - though its people are poor - for our values to take root, it would be a calamitous misjudgment / So to what ends should our intervention and support be fashioned? First, we must address more urgently the issue of conflict resolution and peace-keeping / I have come here today from Sierra Leone, when I last visited five years ago, Sierra Leone was a failed state, emerging from a horrific conflict which saw 60,000 killed, 10,000 child soldiers, one quarter of a million women and girls raped, others brutally maimed, hands cut off, a war fueled by the fight for diamonds and other commodities, we all felt despair at the wickedness that a small group of people could inflict on their compatriots - But we also felt proud that Africa and the international community responded, with ECOWAS and UN troops, and ultimately the UK's own troops / W...