Blair to express "sorrow" for UK slave trade role

LONDON, Nov 26 (Reuters) Prime Minister Tony Blair will express ''deep sorrow'' for Britain's role in the slave trade nearly 200 years after the legislation that led to its abolition, Observer newspaper reported.

However Blair's statement will stop short of a full apology despite pressure from some black campaigners and community leaders, the newspaper said.

''I believe the bicentenary offers us a chance not just to say how profoundly shameful the slave trade was -- how we condemn its existence utterly and praise those who fought for its abolition -- but also to express our deep sorrow that it ever could have happened,'' it quoted Blair as saying in a statement due to appear in New Nation, a newspaper aimed at the black community.

Blair will also back a United Nations resolution by Caribbean countries to honour those who died at the hands of international slave traders, the Observer said.

The issue has come to a head in the build-up to next March's bicentenary of the Slave Trade Act. An advisory committee chaired by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott has been planning the commemorations, including a solution to how Britain should acknowledge its historic responsibility, the newspaper reported.

Government advisers had warned that a full apology could provoke claims for reparations, it said.

Reuters DH VP0507