Tony Blair was yesterday crowned chief for life of an impoverished village in West Africa. Under the span of a giant cotton tree, he was presented with a heavy brown ceremonial robe and declared honorary Paramount Chief of Mahera, a settlement of 6,000 people near Lungi, in Sierra Leone.

A bemused-looking Mr Blair declined to don a ceremonial hat and looked slightly awkward as he sat in a high-backed, carved wooden chair, watched by other paramount chiefs from across the country.

He was given the name Paramount Chief Matoh, Chief of Peace, and his wife, Cherie Blair, was named Ya-Bom-posseh — First Lady. Mr Blair said that the title was an “extraordinary honour”.

Paramount chieftaincy is a tradition dating back to precolonial times when each chief ruled his kingdom. The role was associated with clearing forests or seizing power by conquests.

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Mr Blair was chosen by other chiefs for the honorary role. His remit will extend to the surrounding district of 70,000 people but his power will be tantalisingly limited. He cannot send people to the fields to work in unpaid labour nor will he, in an echo of his uneasy relations with Gordon Brown, be able to raise taxes.

The 15-minute ceremony was conducted on a square of sand and earth surrounded by dense rainforest and began with a beating of African drums, chanting and singing from swaying women. Grass-skirted dancers, one on stilts and another covered in dark grass, twisted and turned in energetic celebration.

The speech of welcome was given by the Regent Paramount Chief Mohammed Hassan Bangura, whose father met Mr Blair when he visited the village in 2002.

Mahera was in the front line of Sierra Leone’s vicious civil war, during which its previous paramount chief took a stand against the rebels. The settlement was attacked many times but the last chief’s bravery earned him the nickname Father of Democracy. He died some months ago.

Mr Blair earlier made a passionate defence of his interventionist record in Sierra Leone and other African states. He said that many lives had been improved and the neighbouring countries of Liberia, Guinea and Ivory Coast were saved from chaos by his decision in 2000 to send troops to end the civil war.

At a press conference with presidents Kabbah of Sierra Leone and Sirleaf of Liberia, Mr Blair was asked if his five-day tour of Africa amounted to a vanity parade.

He replied: “If we care, it does make a difference. We should understand it does really make a difference to people’s lives and if politics is to mean anything at all it is coming to look at poverty and conflict in areas like this and doing something about it. One thing I have come to despise more than anything else is cynicism.

“What I have done in the past, what I am doing in the present, I have done for the future. That’s the only thing that matters.”

Mr Blair’s aides have been frustrated by the portrayal of his tour as a backward-looking attempt to highlight past foreign policy achievements. They say that Mr Blair is trying to lead a late push to build pressure for bolder steps to help Africa at next week’s G8 summit in Germany.

British officials are concerned that the current draft communiqué on Africa, drawn up by Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, is too weak. They are also pressing for firm pledges to support education in Africa and to fund universal access to treatment for HIV/Aids.

Germany has called a meeting on Monday to make a fresh attempt to reach agreement on a G8 statement for Africa. Mr Blair is sending Oliver Robbins, his principal private secretary.

Discussions are stalling on a separate agreement on climate change as America balks at setting a target to stabilise glo-bal carbon emissions, and Mrs Merkel needs a deal on Africa to make the summit a success.

Mr Blair’s chief aim in visiting Africa is to build momentum and generate international pressure ahead of the G8. Holding talks with African leaders and keeping Africa in the news are part of this strategy and chime with President Bush’s announcement that he is to double his funding for treatment for HIV/Aids.

Yesterday Mr Blair and the presidents of Sierra Leone and Liberia asked the international community for more permanent funding for African Union peacekeeping operations. They will press for £25 million to enhance the rapid deployment of African peacekeeping troops. The idea will be put to a European Union-Africa summit at Lisbon in December.

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