Designer diplomacy

At face value the omens could hardly be worse for Prime Minister Tony Blair's West Africa tour from 6-10 February. First stop Nigeria has been blighted by an arms dump explosion killing more than 1,000 people, a police strike and communal clashes all in the past fortnight and although Blair is travelling with International Development Minister Clare Short, no one is expecting large new pledges of aid or debt relief.

Article Tags:
Tony Blair, Clare Short, Olusegun Obasanjo, Canada, Ghana, John Kufuor, Sierra Leone, Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, Senegal, , Abdoulaye Wade, France, Jacques Chirac, , Gabon, Kenya, Egypt, Cameroon, Mozambique, , , Burkina Faso, Algeria, Mauritius, Zambia, Ethiopia, South Africa, Jacob Zuma, Michel Camdessus, Robin Cook

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