Mandela welcomes "young" Blair to ex-leaders'club

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Former South African leader Nelson Mandela welcomed outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Thursday to what he called the retired leaders' club and urged him to continue helping fight poverty in Africa.

Blair, 54, arrived in the country on the final leg of a farewell trip to Africa, which has taken him to Libya and Sierra Leone, and one of his last overseas trips before he cedes power on June 27 to finance minister Gordon Brown.

"Tony, I look forward to welcoming a young man like you to the club of retired presidents and prime ministers," quipped Mandela, who turns 89 in July and retired as South Africa's first black president in 1999.

"I need to warn you, however, that some of us only became active after stepping down. I know that your energy, passion and youth can still play a big role in international affairs," said Mandela, who has been involved mostly with charities since leaving active politics.

Blair, who has clashed with African leaders like Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe over accusations of human rights abuses against political opponents, lauded Mandela for helping bring political change in South Africa and building the economy into the largest in the continent after the fall of apartheid.

"The fact that South Africa is so strong today is in no small measure due to the leadership and courage of Nelson Mandela," he said at the Johannesburg offices of the Nelson Mandela Foundation.