George Bush is likely to meet only a part of Britain's Africa agenda by announcing an aid of £370m for famine relief when he appeared at a joint press conference in Washington today with Tony Blair.

The expected promise fell short of Mr Blair's hopes for a long-term US commitment to Africa ahead of next month's G8 summit in Scotland. However, Blair can claim some progress from his White House visit.

The Aid Agencies are not at all happy over this aid. According to Guardian Unlimited, Aid agencies criticized the move, claiming it did not go nearly far enough.

"If this is President Bush's only response to the crisis in Africa, we think he cannot be serious about alleviating poverty," said Jonathan Glennie, a senior policy analyst from Christian Aid.

"The sum of £370m is a drop in the ocean compared to what Africa really needs - to reach the UN millennium development goals requires an extra £15bn to £20bn per year in aid. Let us hope this is only his opening gambit."

Mr Blair's official spokesman warned last night against prejudging the Gleneagles G8 meeting on the basis of today's talks. "This visit is part of the preparation for Gleneagles, not Gleneagles itself," he said.

"So we are not expecting... to see the final US position. That will come at Gleneagles."

In an interview in today's Financial Times, Mr Blair conceded. however, that the British effort to secure Washington's support for a scheme to double aid to Africa by tapping the international capital markets was now at an end.

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