"Repackaged peanuts", "duplicitous" and "lacking new thinking" are just a few of the criticisms from Western-based aid agencies of the G8's pledges on African development announced at the summit in Canada.

But the debt relief and promises of more aid and improved trade conditions have been given a warmer welcome by African political leaders and from some international agencies working in Africa.

I don't think the African leaders achieved much apart from a lot of publicity

John Adeleke Nigerian businessman

They accept that it will not solve Africa's problems overnight but hope that a new relationship between rich and poor countries will bring long-term benefits.

"It falls far short of what is needed and fails to address the key issues of Aids and poverty," said Amboku Wameyo, Africa Policy Director of the British charity, Action Aid.

The aid announced was mainly a restatement of existing commitments and was offered with conditions that could enable the rich countries a loophole to avoid providing it, she told the BBC's World Today programme.

	:	An unequal world
In pictures: Global poverty statistics

Phil Twyford of the British agency Oxfam went further and said that the funds committed were peanuts, "and repackaged peanuts at that".

A more positive reaction has come from African leaders. Both President Mbeki of South African and his Nigerian counterpart, Olusegun Obasanjo, attended the summit and broadly welcomed the plan.

'Huge failure'

If Nigeria's president was content with what the G8 produced, businessmen back at home were not.

Some say Obasanjo was seeking publicity

"I don't think the African leaders achieved much apart from a lot of publicity and perhaps for some of them, that's what they wanted anyway, John Adeleke, a lawyer at the Nigerian World Trade Centre, told the French news agency, AFP.

"I think the African leaders were looking for money, they didn't get it", he added.

The failure of the summit to address Africa's concerns over farm subsidies in Europe and the USA, which harm African agricultural exports, was attacked by a Nigerian businessman.

Boma Anga, the managing director of a Lagos-based agricultural export firm, said that as far as trade was concerned, the G8 was "a huge failure - it takes us nowhere".

First step

A different message has come from African countries not directly represented at the summit.

"We are happy with the plan and see it as a good beginning", Mozambican Foreign Minister Leonardo Simao told BBC News Online.

Africans are hoping for a better future

It was the start of a process and his government was optimistic that it would lead to a more constructive partnership between Africa and the West, he said.

This view was echoed by Ramesh Shrestha of Unicef's Global Partnership for Children in Ghana.

The commitments made were positive he said, though he acknowledged that they were mainly a restatement of existing aid promises.

Some analysts said that Africa must first show it means what it says about tackling corruption and enhancing democracy before it can expect the West to take more action.