Blair’s Africa Legacy

THE Prime Minister of Britain, Tony Blair, will leave office in less than five days after slightly more than ten years at the helm of British politics.

As leader of one of the world’s great powers and former colonial power, this Prime Minister has also been a key actor in international relations. Unusually, he is not going to leave the world in the state in which he found it because after a decade as leader of a great power, he played a major role in shaping the face of international politics.From a domestic point of view, Blair has been an outstanding Prime Minister if one not only considers British public opinion, but also a sound progressive economy.In that connection, he is not leaving Britain the way he found it.However, in light of the nexus that exists in most advanced democracies between the domestic and the foreign, the ‘inside and the outside’, my view or even public opinion of Tony Blair as a great Prime Minister would rather be mixed.Inevitably, it is on foreign policy where international opinion towards Tony Blair might be unkind, at least in the short term, particularly if we look critically at Britain’s intervention in Iraq.It is in the short term because history could be very kind to Tony Blair if Iraq turns out to be a successful democratic experiment as hoped in future.But Blair’s unequivocal Atlantic policy is only but one important, perhaps the most crucial axis of the Britain’s three foreign policy circles, which also include Europe and the Commonwealth.On Europe, Blair has been a staunch supporter of deeper and wider integration both in political and economic terms, to the dismay and at times suspicion of public opinion and his Labour Party.In that sense he has played the European game pretty well.Yet as an African I would be particularly interested in what has been since the decolonisation of Africa a rather forgotten and neglected angle of British foreign policy, the Commonwealth and by extension, Africa.It is on this question where we would want to know if Tony Blair as leader of a great power is leaving office with the African continent in the same state as he found it ten years ago.What is Blair’s legacy and what is he leaving behind for his successor, Gordon Brown, to build on in Africa? I could be pessimistic and provide a qualified “yes” and argue convincingly that Blair is leaving Africa in the same state.First, Africa is still home to 16 of the world’s 18 poorest countries.Second, Africa is the only continent that is unlikely to meet the United Nations Millennium Development Goals of halving extreme poverty by 2015.Third, it is Zimbabwe in Africa, a former British colony once the breadbasket of Southern Africa, now a country facing imminent economic collapse and being fed with maize by its erstwhile poor neighbours.On that score, Blair failed ordinary Zimbabweans by relying excessively on his friend Thabo Mbeki’s quiet diplomacy.Fourth, it is Sudan’s Darfur region in Africa where the first genocide of the twenty-first century is unfolding.We could go on enumerating a long list of depressing features in Africa Blair is leaving behind.In short, it is the continent that Blair movingly or shockingly referred to as a “scar on the conscience of the world” at a Labour Party conference in 2001.Tony Blair is leaving that Africa behind.But, Tony Blair is not leaving Great Britain’s Africa Policy in the same state as he found it.And we are not only talking about the symbolic face that Tony Blair gave to the Africa Policy.Yes, Tony Blair has possibly undertaken more visits to Africa than any other Prime Minister in British history.Equally, Blair campaigned more for Africa’s cause than any other British Prime Minster.It is also Tony Blair who became a voice of Africa’s developmental agenda in the forums of the G8 and the United Nations.However what is most crucial is that the financial resources dedicated to reducing conflict and supporting Africa’s development agenda in general have been greatly increased.The most noteworthy success is that Blair has taken African issues from the periphery of Britain’s foreign policy agenda to a new sense of activism and urgency.To that end, the work in the foreign policy cluster is being co-ordinated with a view to end African conflicts through the innovative Africa Conflict Prevention Pool whose goal is to reduce the number of Africans whose lives are affected by violent conflict.It is also Tony Blair who sanctioned in 2000 Britain’s first military or humanitarian intervention since decolonisation under the codename of ‘Operation Pallister’ in Sierra Leone with a view to bring an end to that deadly conflict.Britain’s intervention in Sierra Leone and post-conflict state building has become an excellent case study of successful intervention in Africa.Gordon Brown, his successor, has been socialised into the African agenda and is likely to continue putting Africa at the heart of Britain’s engagement with the world.In a nutshell, Tony Blair has transformed Britain’s Africa Policy into one that is ethical and has made the United Kingdom a reliable partner for Africa.That is Blair’s Africa legacy.* Alfredo Tjurimo Hengari is a PhD fellow in Political Science at the University of Paris Panthéon-Sorbonne, France.Unusually, he is not going to leave the world in the state in which he found it because after a decade as leader of a great power, he played a major role in shaping the face of international politics.From a domestic point of view, Blair has been an outstanding Prime Minister if one not only considers British public opinion, but also a sound progressive economy.In that connection, he is not leaving Britain the way he found it.However, in light of the nexus that exists in most advanced democracies between the domestic and the foreign, the ‘inside and the outside’, my view or even public opinion of Tony Blair as a great Prime Minister would rather be mixed. Inevitably, it is on foreign policy where international opinion towards Tony Blair might be unkind, at least in the short term, particularly if we look critically at Britain’s intervention in Iraq.It is in the short term because history could be very kind to Tony Blair if Iraq turns out to be a successful democratic experiment as hoped in future.But Blair’s unequivocal Atlantic policy is only but one important, perhaps the most crucial axis of the Britain’s three foreign policy circles, which also include Europe and the Commonwealth.On Europe, Blair has been a staunch supporter of deeper and wider integration both in political and economic terms, to the dismay and at times suspicion of public opinion and his Labour Party.In that sense he has played the European game pretty well.Yet as an African I would be particularly interested in what has been since the decolonisation of Africa a rather forgotten and neglected angle of British foreign policy, the Commonwealth and by extension, Africa.It is on this question where we would want to know if Tony Blair as leader of a great power is leaving office with the African continent in the same state as he found it ten years ago.What is Blair’s legacy and what is he leaving behind for his successor, Gordon Brown, to build on in Africa? I could be pessimistic and provide a qualified “yes” and argue convincingly that Blair is leaving Africa in the same state.First, Africa is still home to 16 of the world’s 18 poorest countries.Second, Africa is the only continent that is unlikely to meet the United Nations Millennium Development Goals of halving extreme poverty by 2015.Third, it is Zimbabwe in Africa, a former British colony once the breadbasket of Southern Africa, now a country facing imminent economic collapse and being fed with maize by its erstwhile poor neighbours.On that score, Blair failed ordinary Zimbabweans by relying excessively on his friend Thabo Mbeki’s quiet diplomacy.Fourth, it is Sudan’s Darfur region in Africa where the first genocide of the twenty-first century is unfolding.We could go on enumerating a long list of depressing features in Africa Blair is leaving behind.In short, it is the continent that Blair movingly or shock
ingly referred to as a “scar on the conscience of the world” at a Labour Party conference in 2001.Tony Blair is leaving that Africa behind.But, Tony Blair is not leaving Great Britain’s Africa Policy in the same state as he found it.And we are not only talking about the symbolic face that Tony Blair gave to the Africa Policy.Yes, Tony Blair has possibly undertaken more visits to Africa than any other Prime Minister in British history.Equally, Blair campaigned more for Africa’s cause than any other British Prime Minster.It is also Tony Blair who became a voice of Africa’s developmental agenda in the forums of the G8 and the United Nations.However what is most crucial is that the financial resources dedicated to reducing conflict and supporting Africa’s development agenda in general have been greatly increased.The most noteworthy success is that Blair has taken African issues from the periphery of Britain’s foreign policy agenda to a new sense of activism and urgency.To that end, the work in the foreign policy cluster is being co-ordinated with a view to end African conflicts through the innovative Africa Conflict Prevention Pool whose goal is to reduce the number of Africans whose lives are affected by violent conflict.It is also Tony Blair who sanctioned in 2000 Britain’s first military or humanitarian intervention since decolonisation under the codename of ‘Operation Pallister’ in Sierra Leone with a view to bring an end to that deadly conflict.Britain’s intervention in Sierra Leone and post-conflict state building has become an excellent case study of successful intervention in Africa.Gordon Brown, his successor, has been socialised into the African agenda and is likely to continue putting Africa at the heart of Britain’s engagement with the world.In a nutshell, Tony Blair has transformed Britain’s Africa Policy into one that is ethical and has made the United Kingdom a reliable partner for Africa.That is Blair’s Africa legacy.* Alfredo Tjurimo Hengari is a PhD fellow in Political Science at the University of Paris Panthéon-Sorbonne, France.