The following correction was printed in the Guardian's Corrections and Clarifications column, Wednesday February 25, 2004

At the end of the article below, it states that "President Chirac of France has expressed great enthusiasm for the commission, which is modelled on a similar undertaking by the then West German chancellor, Willy Brandt, at the start of the 1980s." Willy Brandt resigned in 1974 following the disclosure that a spy had penetrated his private office. He was chairman of the "independent commission for international development issues" from 1977 and the commission's report, the North-South Report, or Brandt Report, was presented to the secretary-general of the United Nations in New York on February 12 1980.

Tony Blair will shift the focus of Labour's foreign policy back to helping Africa out of its desperate poverty later this week when he launches a new global commission into the problems of the world's poorest continent.

In what is expected to be a pre-election year, the prime minister will seek to draw a line under a year dominated by the war against Saddam Hussein and return to the government's core anti-poverty agenda.

The prime minister, who in a speech to the Labour party conference in October 2001 described Africa's state as a "scar on the world's conscience", has personally taken charge of the new commission. The high-level group will consist of just over a dozen members from African governments and the west, including Gordon Brown, Trevor Manuel, South Africa's finance minister, and Meles Zenawi, the Ethiopian prime minister.

The commission, which was inspired by the the rock star Bob Geldof, will report back in the middle of next year, around the expected date of the election, and coinciding with the 20th anniversary of the Live Aid concert that Geldof organised on behalf of the starving millions in Ethiopia.

Ministers believe that Labour's progress on debt relief and aid were among its strongest achievements over the past seven years for progressive voters and will seek to contrast their record with shadow chancellor Oliver Letwin's plans to cut foreign aid in real terms.

Mr Geldof will launch the commission on Thursday along with Mr Meles and the international development secretary, Hilary Benn. The commission will examine how to put relationships between Africa and its western donors on a much more adult footing, a senior government source told the Guardian.

The west had a responsibility to help African countries but the recipient states had a responsibility to help themselves, particularly in the way they govern themselves and resolve conflicts, the source said.

Three of Africa's longest running conflicts, in Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Angola, have ended over the last year or so, giving the continent its best chance since the aftermath of decolonisation to make an impact on grinding poverty.

African leaders have launched their own initiative to stamp out corruption and create the right political and economic climate for growth, the New Partnerships for Africa's Development (Nepad).

The commission will build on Nepad's work and examine areas including trade, governance, aid, debt relief, conflict resolution and economic policy.

Mr Blair wants to use Britain's twin presidencies of the Group of Eight leading industrialised countries, which starts on January 1 next year, and the European Union - which commences six months later - to put Africa firmly back on the international agenda.

The prime minister believes that 2005 is a make-or-break year for Africa, with the first of the UN's anti-poverty goals, getting as many girls as boys into school, likely to be missed, largely due to slow progress in the continent.

Mr Brown will lead the economic side of the commission's work with Mr Manuel, his South African counterpart.

This was very much a north-south joint effort, in the spirit of Nepad, the source said. "It's not the north saying this is what is good for you."

The French and American governments are both expected to have representatives on the commission. President Chirac of France has expressed great enthusiasm for the commission, which is modelled on a similar undertaking launched by the then West German chancellor, Willy Brandt, at the start of the 1980s.

The three worst woes

Poverty
Ethiopia: 98% of the population lives on less than $2 a day
Nigeria: 91% of the population lives on less than $2 a day

HIV
Botswana: 39% of the adult population is HIV positive
Zimbabwe: 34% of the adult population is HIV positive

Conflict
Uganda: civil war in the north is in its 18th year. Between 1996 and 2002, it displaced more than 460,000 people
Somalia: civil war broke out in the late 1980s and there has been no effective government for the last 10 years

· Source: World Bank