José Manuel Barroso, the European Commission president, will unveil today grandly titled proposals for a "European Union strategy for Africa", intended to guide the EU's relations with the continent for years to come.

A draft of the plan spells out concerns about the effectiveness of the EU's development aid - €15bn ($18bn, £10bn) in 2003 - and the challenge of reaching the United Nations goal of halving poverty by 2015.