Foreign Correspondence

[thepennyking]

Can they change the world?

JAMES HALL
FOREIGN EDITOR


THEY were among the most powerful people in the world, men and women who waged wars, made peace and managed to solve apparently intractable political crises.

Now a group of former prime ministers, presidents, foreign secretaries and diplomats have joined forces to create the ultimate think tank to advise struggling governments.

Set up by FW de Klerk, the former president of South Africa, and supported by George Bush senior and Nelson Mandela, the Global Leadership Foundation (GLF) was to meet for the first time today at Chevening, the official country residence of the Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw.

The organisation’s list of advisers reads like a who’s who of international politics and includes the former Czech president Vaclav Havel, the former Portuguese prime minister Anibal Cavaco Silva, the former foreign secretary Lord Hurd and the former Botswanan president Ketumile Masire.

Its patrons include Mr Bush, Mr Mandela, the former Polish Solidarity leader Lech Walesa and the former West German chancellor Helmut Schmidt.

But, in contrast to high-profile mediators and advisers, such as the former United States president Jimmy Carter and the international financier George Soros, the foundation hopes to operate behind the scenes. Many of the members’ names have not even been made public.

The diplomatic brain bank will be a one-stop shop for emerging but troubled democracies.

"Our aim is to support democratisation, to support leaders by helping them through confidential and quiet advice, to adopt well-balanced economic policies ... to help defuse threatening conflicts," Mr de Klerk said.

"We will be issue-driven. We will be focusing on a particular issue in a particular country where, if the right decision is taken, it will open the door to solutions."

The man who freed Mr Mandela in 1990 and four years later saw his former prisoner elected president, said

the GLF’s small secretariat, led by a former British career diplomat, John Shepherd, has a list of ten potential target countries but declined to list them, other than to say Zimbabwe was not among them.

"Zimbabwe is an example where we won’t get involved. We won’t advise dictators who are only interested in continuing to be dictators. We won’t advise megalomaniacs and strengthen their hands to be successful megalomaniacs," he said.

Lord Hurd said: "I don’t know if it will be a success but it’s worth a try. When I saw the list [of members], I was rather encouraged. I think we could be very helpful."

He noted two kinds of problems with which the foundation could help. "The first is internal problems. If people have political problems inside a country … sometimes it is useful to have people who have dealt with similar problems in other countries.

"The second is disputes between countries where they don’t want to go to the Security Council or have a public argument but may want private help to sort it out."

The foundation boasts senior figures from almost every corner of the globe. The former Indian prime minister IK Gujral is on board, as is Mike Moore, the New Zealand premier who went on to run the World Trade Organisation.

It is also rumoured that Prince Hassan bin Talal of Jordan and Michel Rocard, a former French prime minister, have joined. The United Nations’ secretary general, Kofi Annan, knows of the group’s existence and appears to have no objection.

Although the foundation is non profit-making, governments will have to pay for the foundation’s services to cover costs.

Peter Hinchcliffe, a former British ambassador to Jordan and Kuwait and now an honorary lecturer on Middle East politics at the University of Edinburgh, said he was not sure governments will want to pay for the advice.

"The people mentioned certainly have a wealth of expertise there. Whether governments will pay them or not is a different matter."

He added: "It is reinventing the wheel in a way. It’s been done before and most of these groups meet once or twice and disappear without trace."

But he said it was worth trying.

"It can do no harm if people are prepared to listen to those great minds, it could do some good."

That thinking feeling

THE Global Leadership Foundation is the latest international think tank to draw on the expertise of world leaders.

The former United States president Jimmy Carter founded an Atlanta-based think tank with his wife, Rosalynn, in 1982. The Carter Centre promotes human rights and conflict resolution across the world.

Bill Clinton followed Mr Carter’s lead after he left office, setting up the William Jefferson Clinton Foundation, a think tank and action centre for foreign policy, conflict resolution and policy research.

George Soros, one of the world’s richest men, has given billions through his international network of Soros Foundations, held together by the Open Society Institute - set up to promote open societies by shaping government policy and supporting education, media, public health and human and women’s rights as well as social, legal and economic reform.

http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=352812004