Blair Takes on Unpaid Role As Rwanda Adviser

Tony Blair is widening his post-premiership portfolio by becoming an unpaid adviser to the Rwandan government of President Kagame.

In the first indication of the kind of work Blair would like to undertake in Africa, he has despatched a three-strong team to Rwanda to see how he will be able to help build the capacity of the once war torn government.

Blair has been impressed by the way Rwanda has transformed itself since the 1994 genocide and believes he can raise funds to help the government. The country already has the second highest growth rate in Africa, but half the government's budget is based on overseas aid.

The team he has sent includes Liz Lloyd, his former deputy chief of staff at No 10 and an Africa specialist, his former Number 10 private secretary Kate Gross and David Easton, a former McKinsey's consultant.

The former prime minister showed his commitment to Africa in office by setting up the African Commission and, in 2005, working with Gordon Brown to build big financial pledges during the British presidency of the G8 industrialized nations.

In the same year his wife Cherie visited the country to see the war graves, and attend some of the court hearings held to try perpetrators of the genocide.

Blair has always taken the view that government capacity, good governance and fighting corruption are vital to development. Since leaving office Blair, who has often said he is ashamed that the world stood aside during the Rwandan civil war, has met President Kagame to discuss how they should work together.

Blair's officials stressed that his work will be unpaid. He will be seeking to raise funds for the future consultancy. The Rwandans have already set a up a program with the British government to pinpoint bottlenecks to growth, including the lack of export growth and the role of the private sector.

Blair received criticism last week after it was revealed that he had taken a highly paid job as an adviser to J P Morgan, the blue chip US bankers.