Blair hails G8 progress on Africa

He said the deal at the summit in the Germany coastal town of Heiligendamm reaffirmed the promises made at the gathering he hosted two years ago in Gleneagles.

But anti-poverty campaigner Bob Geldof attacked the G8 deal to help Africa as "a total farce".

Despite Tony Blair's claim the summit had achieved "immense progress", the former Boomtown Rats singer bluntly insisted it was not enough.

His disappointment was echoed by aid organisations, who said the agreement at Heiligendamm had fallen well short of expectations.

Max Lawson, senior policy adviser at Oxfam, said there were "no excuses" for the world leaders.

The Prime Minister said that the summit accord also represented a true partnership between Africa and the developed world, with promises of good governance and an anti-corruption drive.

Mr Blair told reporters: "The important thing about what we have agreed is that we have recommitted ourselves to all the commitments we made a couple of years ago at Gleneagles. The important thing is we have set out how we are going to do them.

"There is a 60 billion dollar (£30 billion) commitment for help on HIV/Aids, there's a major initiative on education and funding for that, and support for peacekeeping, support for Africa's ability to trade its goods, support also for proper governance because this is a partnership.

"It's a deal between Africa and the developed world and just as we have recommitted ourselves to substantial increases in support and help, so Africa has recommitted itself to its responsibilities as part of a partnership - proper governance against corruption, proper democracy and so on."