London - Britain on Monday pledged a further 5 million pounds (8 million dollars) in transitional aid to Zimbabwe to support what Prime Minister Gordon Brown called "great signs of progress" toward "genuine recovery."

Brown made the announcement following talks with Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangarai in London, but stressed that the new money would be channelled through aid agencies and not the government.

The latest aid would be used to secure food supplies and buy textbooks for schools, said Brown. It would bring the total of British transitional aid for Zimbabwe this year to 60 million pounds.

"There are great signs of progress that Zimbabwe is moving from mere survival to genuine recovery," said Brown.

Tsvangarai insisted that "irreversible change" was now taking Zimbabwe toward a "transition to democracy and elections."

Zimbabwe has said it needs 4.9 billion pounds to revive the economy. But pledges have fallen far short of that goal as many donors fear that the money could be funneled to President Robert Mugabe and his allies.

Mugabe has become persona non grata in many Western capitals over concerns that his regime violates human rights and economic mismanagement.

At a joint news conference in London, Tsvangirai defended his decision to share power with Mugabe in February. He even held out the prospect of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) being able to resume reporting directly from Zimbabwe later this year.

However, Amnesty International said last week that the human rights situation in Zimbabwe remained "precarious" despite the power- sharing government.

On Saturday, Tsvangarai was booed by Zimbabwean exiles in London when he urged them to return to the country. (dpa)