Blair's advice: You sort it out
2006-02-13 20:42
Johannesburg - Tony Blair has encouraged 20-somethings from across Africa to go into politics to sort out the continent's problems.
Bombarded by questions on corruption, dictatorship and the brain drain, the British prime minister turned the tables on his interviewees during the 30-minute question-and-answer session which is to be screened on MTV.
"How many of you would go into politics?" asked Blair.
His question drew laughter, and a negative reaction.
"Well, I can't sort it out. You've got to sort it out," he responded.
He was speaking in the programme taped in Johannesburg late on Sunday at the end of his two-day visit to South Africa.
Blair also dodged a question about HIV/Aids and how he broached with his own children the topic of sex.
'The start of making a difference'
"I don't want to give the British media too much," he said.
He praised Nelson Mandela for disclosing that his son had died of Aids last year, saying it was an "unselfish thing to do".
Blair, who has put Africa at the top of his foreign policy agenda, said he hoped his efforts toward combating poverty would be remembered as "the start of making a difference".
MTV Base Meets Tony Blair is to be aired in Britain and Ireland on Tuesday while the broadcast across Africa is scheduled for March 6.