VALLETTA, Nov 26: Commonwealth leaders meeting on the Mediterranean island of Malta slipped out of the public eye at the weekend to tackle the growing and elusive menace of terrorism.

The leaders also grappled with how to avert threats to greater democracy in member countries like Uganda and correct world trade imbalances ahead of a key meeting in Hong Kong.

Many officials and analysts say repression and poverty fuel terrorism.

Outside a honey-coloured stone mansion, framed by palm trees and cactus groves, Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain, the former colonial power from which the Commonwealth sprang, set the tone for the weekend.

“We talked about common issues, in particular the threat of terrorism,” Blair said late Friday after emerging with Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz from the British High Commissioner’s residence in Malta.

“And we need to do all we possibly can to cooperate together to defeat it,” Blair said on the rear steps of the residence, with Aziz on his right.

Threatening to overshadow the summit was the jailing of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni’s main rival in forthcoming elections.

At a press conference with Malta’s Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, Blair said the arrest of opposition leader Kizza Bisegye “is causing us a great deal of concern” and that he would discuss the matter with Museveni during the summit.

Blair told journalists one of the main Commonwealth principles was “proper respect for the proper functioning of democracy”.

In a rambling news conference on Friday, Museveni denounced “misinformation” surrounding the case against Bisegye.

A Commonwealth human rights forum has said Uganda would not be appropriate as the planned venue for the next summit in 2007 because of its poor record on democracy and good governance.

Leaders of the Commonwealth, a loose collection of 53 mainly former British colonies, also heard a plea at their opening session from President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigera for a “zero-tolerance” attitude to corruption. —AFP