The Prime Minister discussed a range of international issues with the UN Secretary-General when they met today in Downing Street.
Mr Blair said he was very grateful to the Secretary General for all his help and support on the Africa Commission.
"It is an issue that both of us feel passionately about. We think there is a chance of making real progress next year."
Read the press conference in full below:
Prime Minister:
Good Afternoon everyone. First of all I am delighted to have Kofi Annan, the Secretary General of the United Nations, here with us this afternoon, and I will just say a few words by way of opening.
Obviously we have been through the full range of the international issues that you would expect. We have discussed Iraq, and you might want to ask me more about that in a moment; Afghanistan and the successful elections there, which are immensely important. We have agreed that in relation to Iraq it is important too that these elections take place, they will be a tremendous boost for the people and for the country there, and those who are committing these acts of terrorism, as we have seen again with the kidnapping of someone today, should not be allowed to succeed. We have also discussed however the wider Middle East, the issues to do with the Middle East peace process and our desire, urgently, to see that process reinvigorated and restarted. We have discussed as well the Africa Commission and I am very grateful to the Secretary General for all his help and support over it. It is an issue that both of us feel passionately about. We think there is a chance of making real progress next year. It is not just the Africa Commission coming out with its report, but also there will be the report into the Millennium Development Goals and progress towards those, and I think we know that without a further and urgent renewal of our commitment, it is going to be unlikely that those goals can be met, so that gives a further impetus to the issue of Africa. We discussed the Sudan in particular, as you would expect, and our desire to make sure that the Africa Union gets its forces in there as quickly as possible and to say that Europe should stand ready to help with logistics and funding in any way that we can. And we discussed as well the UN panel which will report in December on the future of the United Nations and the Security Council.
So as ever, it has been a very full agenda, but it is a great pleasure and honour to have you here.
Mr Annan:
Thank you very much Tony. I have had a very good discussion with the Prime Minister, as you have heard, and I always appreciate these occasions on which we can go over a range of issues, and I don’t have much to add to the issues he has raised, but I would want to say on Sudan that it is extremely important that we get all the help necessary to the Africa Union so that they can deploy the monitors and the protective force very quickly. It is also important that we get the necessary resources to carry on our humanitarian programme. We are a little over $200 million short and I would appeal to all governments with capacity to help and help urgently.
Question:
Prime Minister, the Defence Secretary didn’t get a lot of support in the Commons yesterday. When do you think the troops can start to come home?
Prime Minister:
In terms of the British troops that are there now, we have got to stay and get the job done, and the purpose is to build up the Iraqi capability so that the Iraqi troops and security services can handle security in their own country, and our desire is to make sure that the elections can take place, that Iraq is a sovereign country, run by Iraqis, and then of course our troops can come home, and they only remain there with the consent of the Iraqi people. But let me just say a word or two on the issue of whether we deploy some of those British troops in a different way. There has been a request by the American military to the British military, not a request politically from the United States President to me, but a request from the United States military to the British military. That request is being considered. There is going to be an assessment made by our military. No decision has been taken yet. No decision will be taken to redeploy British troops unless it is clear militarily that that should and can happen. And because of the particular expertise of the British troops, of course they are in high demand, they do a fantastic job in Iraq. And the only elections that matter in this regard are the Iraqi elections next January that are an integral part of making sure that Iraq stabilises and these terrorists and other groups do not have their way.
Question:
For the avoidance of any doubt, wouldn’t it be better to delay these changes until after the American elections?
Prime Minister:
We have got to consider what is right militarily. I am not saying that this deployment is going to go ahead in the next few days, I am not saying that. I am simply saying there has been a request by the American military to the British military, it will be handled in the normal way, with an assessment by the military and then a recommendation to us, and the issue that is important is how we make sure those Iraqi elections in January go ahead in such a way that we can stabilise the country, and that is in Britain’s interest as well as in Iraq’s interest. And so let us just handle this issue in the normal way. I hope people understand, I am sure the public do, that there is a limit to how much I can say the request is that they go here to do this, or the Americans are thinking of this operation or that operation, you know we can’t advertise what British troops are about to do, or indeed what American troops are about to do, but the important thing is to realise that these requests are made military to military, not politician to politician. And as I say, and have said now three times, the only elections that matter are the Iraqi ones.
Question:
You will be aware Mr Annan of the controversy about the redeployment of these British troops and therefore the scarcity apparently of quality troops on the ground in Iraq. Do you think it would have been easier for other international countries to send their support, to send troops to Iraq, if the war hadn’t, in your words, been illegal?
Mr Annan:
I think, let me put it this way, the Prime Minister indicated that the elections and stabilisation of Iraq will be in the interests of the Iraqis and the UK government. I would go further. I would say that attempts to stabilise Iraq will be in the interests of the entire international community, and that is why I have indicated that any government with capacity and ability to help should do what they can to help stabilise Iraq so that they can get on with their lives, and I have indicated that security is absolutely essential for us to be able to carry on reconstruction and all the wonderful plans we have for Iraq.
Question:
Are you disappointed that more countries haven’t been able to send troops?
Mr Annan:
Obviously the more countries that participate in these operations, the stronger the message that goes out that the whole international community is engaged and agreed on the project. But of course it is up to individual governments to decide when to participate or not to participate in these operations, but I would hope more governments, for example we tried to raise a brigade to protect the UN troops, but we
haven’t done very well, and it is the same governments who are asking me to send in my civilian staff who are not going to give me troops to protect them.
Question:
Prime Minister, can I ask you about Margaret Hassan please? After what happened to Ken Bigley, what can the British government do, and what is the British government going to do, to try and either rescue Mrs Hassan, or try and find her whereabouts, so that we don’t have the great long drawn out trauma with tragic consequences that we had in the case of Mr Bigley?
Prime Minister:
We will do whatever we can, obviously. This is someone who has actually lived in Iraq for 30 years, it is someone who is immensely respected, married to an Iraqi, someone who is doing her level best to help the country. And I think it shows you the type of people we are up against that they were prepared to kidnap somebody like this. Now we don’t know which group it is, so there is really a limit at this stage to what I can say to you, but obviously we will do whatever we possibly can.
Question:
Prime Minister, if you do give the go-ahead for this troop redeployment, do you accept that this is a redeployment of a different nature, because they will be moving out of the zone which British forces have been in up to now. Do you accept that this isn’t just something routine, this would actually be a qualitatively different deployment for British troops?
Prime Minister:
I can only go back, Andy, to what I have said before, because of course British troops have been involved in this right from the very beginning, and often engaged in difficult and dangerous situations, and thank goodness we have British troops that are of that quality and have the skill and particular expertise that people want us actually to help in this situation. And all I can tell you is that in exactly the same way, as with any other operation, there will be a military assessment first, there is then a recommendation given to us, and we do not take these decisions without acting on military advice, and this was a military request. And I think in fairness to the forces, and in particular to their families that will worry about this, it is important that that is emphasised. Obviously we will get a report back from the people that will make an assessment, and the reason why I am not entering into details of exactly what they might be asked to do, or exactly what operations the Americans may undertake, is because it really wouldn’t be very sensible to do that. But we have been involved in an operation for the whole of Iraq to make sure that it stabilises and to make sure that we have these elections in January, and that is the priority for us.
Question:
A lot of your own MPs believe this would be a qualitatively different deployment, literally crossing a line in the sand.
Prime Minister:
Let us wait and see what the actual deployment is that is suggested and what the advice to us is.
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