Blair to Ask Un for Crackdown on Incitement

The United Nations security council is set to adopt on Wednesday a British-sponsored resolution for a worldwide crackdown on incitement to terrorism. Tony Blair, who proposed the move after the London bombings, is to press the case in person during a three-day summit at the UN headquarters in New York.

The UK plans to act unilaterally against British-based advocates of violence but wants such measures to be adopted worldwide. A source close to negotiations said there was almost no opposition on the 15-member security council.

After the attacks on London, the British government condemned Islamists supportive of violence and expressed concern about the impact of religious schools in Pakistan. The resolution would place an obligation on all governments to adopt laws that prohibit incitement, deny a safe haven to offenders and "counter violent extremist ideologies, including steps to prevent the subversion of educational, cultural, and religious institutions by terrorists and their supporters".

Mr Blair is to discuss the issue on Wednesday with other members of the security council, including the US, Russian and Chinese presidents, George Bush, Vladimir Putin and Hu Jintao, and Dominique de Villepin, the French prime minister. They represent the five permanent members of the council. The three-day summit is being billed as the largest ever gathering of world leaders.

Ambassadors from more than dozen key countries also met yesterday to try to break the deadlock on plans for UN reform but appeared to make little progress.