Secretary of State for International Development Clare Short announced the aid in her speech to the party faithful on the last day of the Labour conference in Blackpool.

BBC Political Correspondent Christine Stewart reports from the Labour Party conference

She said that a £30m ($48m) package will go directly to the struggling African Development Bank to help reduce the burden on the most highly-indebted countries.

And she revealed £67m over five years will be put into improving education in Uganda - the largest single commitment ever made to development funds.

The government is said to hope the move will embarrass other countries into action.

Aid agencies point to Japan and Germany in particular as being uncharitable to the developing world.

The countries that could be among those to get help are Tanzania, Rwanda, Mozambique, Sudan, Zambia and Liberia.

These countries have borrowed heavily from the African Development Bank, the regional office of the World Bank, and are economically crippled by interest payments.

Millennium marker

Short: "Reducing debt is the best wasy to mark the millennium"

Ms Short told delegates that poverty and environmental degradation go hand in hand. Reducing poverty and promoting sustainable development worldwide was not just charity, but was morally right and in the UK's own interests, she said.

Counting the cost: The debt total rises £1,566 per second

A government White Paper issued last year committed Labour to cutting global poverty in half by the year 2015 and pledged to lead the world effort in meeting UN targets on eradicating poverty.

The minister said the world's countries had agreed primary education should be provided for all children and basic healthcare should be given to all people.

Short: "Our aim is self-sufficiency"

But meeting targets also meant supporting sound economic policies, proper regulation of banks and efficient taxation systems, she said.

She has been working with Chancellor Gordon Brown to ensure Africa's poorest countries are on track to get their debt cut to managable levels by the year 2000.

"We think that's the best way to mark the millennium," Ms Short said.

"Since the election we have provided £100m unilaterally to help some of the poorest African countries reduce their debt and spend more on health and education."

Rooting out corruption

But the African Development Bank cannot afford to write off its share of the debt, said Ms Short, as she announced the new aid, to loud applause.

The Ugandan programme will help the country achieve its aim of universal, free education by 2003.

But, she went on, the government is backing up its cash aid with help to governments to become self-reliant and root out corruption.

Clare Short received a standing ovation from conference delegates

"We must be clear, however, that debt relief alone is not enough to eradicate poverty. That is why I am reshaping our development programme to back governments committed to economic reform and human development.

"We are no longer in the business of endless handouts for isolated projects or even more using the aid programme to subsidise business deals that weren't in the best interests of poor countries."