Of course help, of course end poverty.
It won't end while the EU subsidises their agricultural products to the extent that they are sent to Africa cheaper than they can be produced there.
But above all--- all the money in the world won't save a single life while it continues to pour into the pockets of the kleptocratic rulers of these countries and their foul minions, who watch their own people starve to death form their palaces, or start genocidal wars against their own countrymen because they come from another tribe.
Africa can save itself, we in the rich countries have succeeded in doing so little since live aid because so much of the money has been...stolen.
And Gordon Brown's writing off the billions of debt was really little more than a gesture. Almost all the poorest countries are already in default, being unable to pay because they are being robbed from within.