Blair Wants More For Famine Relief

Says Africa Aid Needs 'A Lot More' Than $674 Million Offered By Bush

(AP) 
The prime minister's staunch support for Bush on the Iraq war has prompted criticism of him as lacking influence and has driven down his standing among some Britons. Tuesday's talks were the first since Blair narrowly won re-election in voting that also saw his Labour Party sustain heavy losses.

Blair's support has earned him little reward from the Bush administration. Differences over Mideast peace strategy, Guantanamo Bay detentions and other issues have abounded.

Along with debt relief, Blair wants summit attendees to promise to double their current Africa aid levels, as part of a push to go beyond emergency relief in favor of more comprehensive, long-term help for the continent's problems. The White House has been cool to that idea, arguing the United States has already tripled its Africa aid during Bush's four years in office, to $3.2 billion in 2004.

Blair also wants nations to commit new money to Africa, rather than reallocating existing funds. But even the U.S. famine relief dollars were coming out of an already approved Agriculture Department food aid account and other money recently made available by Congress.

"It is important we deal with the situation in Ethiopia and Eritrea, but obviously, there's a lot more that needs to be dealt with," Blair said.

The Bush administration disagrees with Blair's plan for how to finance debt relief. Blair has proposed raising some of the money by selling bonds on the world's capital markets - an approach Bush dismissed out of hand last week. Bush also opposes a British proposal that the IMF sell some of its massive gold reserves to fund increased aid.

The leaders were perhaps even further apart on global warming.

Blair says "clear and immediate action" to address rising temperatures is one of the world's most pressing priorities. But the Bush administration opposes government-mandated action, arguing there still are questions about global warming and possible causes.