US has a duty to help Africa's poor, says Brown

Gordon Brown today warned America it had a "moral responsibility" to tackle poverty in Africa by cutting debt and increasing aid.

The Chancellor hit out amid fears that President George Bush will kill off Britain's plans for an international fund for poor countries at the G8 summit in Gleneagles in June.

When challenged about reports that the US would block his plans, Mr Brown told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that rich countries had to look beyond economics. He raised the case of a girl he met in Africa whose parents had died of Aids. "It's a question of moral responsibility to people we will never meet but who will be helped by decisions we take," he said.