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Blair becomes Mideast envoy
27/06/2007 18:44 - (SA)
Geneva - Tony Blair was named as the special envoy of the four major powers mediating Middle East peace on Wednesday shortly after stepping down as prime minister of Britain.
Blair's new role in world politics was announced by the United Nations and United States after he ended a decade in power and was succeeded to the premiership by his former finance minister, Gordon Brown.
"Following discussions among the principals, today the quartet dealing with the Middle East is announcing the appointment of Tony Blair as the quartet's representative," said UN spokesperson Michele Montas.
Representatives of the quartet - the European Union, Russia, United Nations and United States - had discussed offering Blair a mandate at talks in Jerusalem on Tuesday.
Speaking before parliament for the last time as prime minister, Blair said: "The absolute priority is to try to give effect to what is now the consensus across the international community that the only way of bringing stability and peace in the Middle East is a two state solution."
He said this means "a state of Israel which is secure and confident in its security, and a Palestinian state that is not merely viable in terms of its territory but in terms of its institutions and governance".
'Real progress'
"I believe it is possible to do that but it will require a huge intensity of focus and work," added Blair, who handed over to his finance minister Gordon Brown later in the day.
Blair made no mention of the envoy job, but Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern told RTE radio that Blair told him personally on Friday that he "was going to take it."
Ahern added: "He thinks, and I believe he is right, that if you have hands-on, persistent engagement you can make real progress."
Ahern has been a key ally of Blair over his decade in power, overseeing the resumption of power-sharing in Northern Ireland in May after jointly brokering a historic reconciliation between Catholic and Protestant forces.
Blair, who lost political capital after sending British troops in support of the US-led invasion of Iraq, spent his last months in office stressing that a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict was a priority for him.
Moscow 'supports' Blair
Ian Paisley, the Protestant leader who became the first minister in the power-sharing government in Belfast, also alluded to the envoy job when he said he hoped Blair could repeat the work he did in Northern Ireland.
In Ramallah on the West Bank, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov implied that Moscow would not oppose Blair as the new envoy.
"Blair talked with President Putin by phone today," Lavrov told a news conference with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas when asked whether Russia backed Blair for the job.
"Our position is that the Quartet had concluded the elaboration of the mandate of the new representative and this mandate is based on the need to do everything to respond to the actual needs of the Palestinians," he said.
- AFP
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