A TWO-DAY conference on aid and debt in Africa is due to begin on June 9 in the Burkina Faso capital Ouagadougou, bringing together some 100 researchers and officials of multilateral lending institutions. The meeting, which will reconsider the role of the Breton Woods institutions on the African continent, will bring together academics and senior officials of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Burkina Faso’s President Blaise Compaore, chairman of the Organisation of African Unity, will open the meeting. Among the themes to be discussed here will be debt and trade in Africa, the world economic order, and Africa’s status with regard to the Breton Woods institutions.