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Monday, Jan 03, 2005

International

International

Now, Blair defends Bush

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON, JAN. 2. The British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, on Sunday intervened to defuse the controversy over what is seen as the U.S. President, George W. Bush's attempt to sideline the United Nations in coordinating international relief efforts for the tsunami disaster victims.

Mr. Blair, who insisted that the U.N. was the right agency to lead the relief campaign, called the criticism of his U.S. ally a "misunderstanding''.

"When I spoke to President Bush a short time ago, he made it very clear that he wanted the U.N. to be in the lead and that he sees the work that the U.S. is doing as very much supportive of that,'' he told Channel 4 News.

His remarks came after criticism that Mr. Bush's decision to set up a four-nation task force to coordinate tsunami aid operations was a direct "snub" to the U.N. with which his administration has been having a running battle since the row over the Iraq war.

Mr. Blair also defended his decision not to interrupt his holiday in Egypt in what he himself has described as a "global catastrophe.'' He said he had been in touch "practically hourly'' with the eventsand the important thing was responding effectively to the tragedy.

"Right response"

"I think the main thing really is, first all, to make sure we have the right response mechanism in place to deal with the problem of British nationals that have been caught up in the tragedy, but also to deal with the humanitarian assistance.''

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