A challenge unheeded.

Byline: The Register-Guard

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has a powerful vision and a compelling plan for breaking the cycle of poverty, famine, disease and war that for decades has afflicted much of Africa.

President Bush has a vision and a plan, too. The problem is that his have proven insufficient to meet the challenge. It's time for the president to acknowledge that reality and to support Blair's bold initiative to meet what he rightly calls "the fundamental moral challenge of our time."

Yet Bush balked last week at Blair's face-to-face invitation to join Great Britain and other major industrial nations in doubling their foreign aid to Africa over the next five years. Instead, Bush offered a testy defense of his administration's aid policies and - hold the drum roll - "announced" a $674 million U.S. contribution for food aid and humanitarian relief that it turns out Congress had already appropriated.

In fairness, the Bush administration has already doubled aid to Africa in the last four years, from $1.6 billion to $3.2 billion, with the bulk of the new money going to provide HIV funding and food aid to Sudan and Ethiopia.

In addition, Bush established the Millennium Challenge Account, which is designed to channel billions of dollars of aid to countries that have demonstrated that they are controlling corruption, adhering to the rule of law, investing in health and education and encouraging trade and private investment.

While the Millennium program has laudable goals, only two countries have qualified for assistance - and of the $2.5 billion allocated by Congress, no funding has been distributed. Clearly, it's time to rethink the administration's strategy to make certain that impoverished Africans receive the assistance they desperately need.

Bush is right to heed the unhappy history of U.S. aid to African countries, one that resulted in millions of dollars disappearing into the bank accounts of corrupt leaders and of grandiose projects that provided no benefit to suffering citizenries. But a number of countries have made significant progress in addressing corruption and promoting reforms, even if they do not meet the Millennium plan's stringent standards. These countries should not be deprived of the aid they need to feed their hungry, to fight AIDS and the host of other diseases that are killing millions every year, to teach their children and to build the economies necessary to lift them out of poverty.

In his news conference on Tuesday, Bush defensively recited his administration's increases in aid to Africa. "I want you to focus on what we have done for starters," he said. "What I like to say is my administration actually does what we say we're going to do - and we have."

Well, three years ago, the United States joined the world's other wealthiest nations in pledging to increase their aid to poor countries to 0.7 percent of their national incomes. Even with the Bush administration's substantial increases, this country still gives a mere 0.16 percent and, unlike countries including Britain, France, German and Japan, has yet to announce a plan for reaching the targeted amount.

By refusing to join Blair's grand initiative, Bush also missed an opportunity to repair some of the extraordinary damage that the Iraq war has caused to this nation's reputation - an opportunity to prove he understands that leadership is about more than wielding military might.