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This is one of the reasons i tell people not to take Tony's so-called crusade
of uplifting the African continent seriously. And speeches like the situation
in Africa is a scourge on the world's conscience is just what it is, a whole
lotta political bull crap! he does not  mean a single word of it.

The man is a slime ball. First he promised students that they
will never have to pay for their degrees as student grants will
continue and what did the twerp do after stepping his feet
in 10 Downing St, he just reneged on it. The man is a joke and a fraud.
I am glad that Clare is there to make his life a misery.
You go Clare, my Brummie gal!!

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Radar sale threatens aid to Tanzania


Critics say Tanzania is too poor to pay for the system

A £10m aid payment to Tanzania has been withheld by International Development
Secretary Clare Short because of its plans to buy a UK-built military air
traffic control system.
The decision threatens to re-open a cabinet row over the sale of the £28m BAe
Systems device, which was approved with the award of an export licence last
December.

Ms Short said Tanzania, one of the world's poorest countries, could have opted
for an adequate alternative which cost a quarter of the price.

The Department for International Development (DfID) has confirmed the aid has
been delayed until a report into whether the African state has breached its
commitments to alleviate poverty is completed.

Moral duty

The decision to allow BAE Systems to sell Tanzania the equipment prompted a
cabinet row, with Ms Short and Chancellor Gordon Brown opposing the sale.

They said supporters of the deal - including Tony Blair, Trade and Industry
Secretary Patricia Hewitt and Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon - were wrong because
Tanzania was receiving international money to tackle food shortages.

After the deal went through Ms Short told the BBC the government had a moral
duty to put concern for the world's poor above commercial interests.

The Tanzanian President, Benjamin Mkapa, has said his country needs it to
ensure air safety.

'No rift'

Ms Short denied the decision to hold back the aid was aimed at reopening the
rift with her colleagues.

She said: "There is no cabinet rift. The export licence has been granted.

"The decision to delay the release of budgetary support pending a review of
Tanzania's air traffic control system was based on Tanzania's commitment to
poverty reduction."

DfID officials said the department was awaiting the outcome of an inquiry by
the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) into whether the purchase
breached Tanzania's poverty reduction strategy.

The ICAO's report was expected to be published next week.

One official said: "If it is found that Tanzania is not sticking to its poverty
reduction strategy, then there will be an issue in releasing that budgetary
support."

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