African leaders are meeting in Gabon for a summit focussing on economic growth and the reduction of poverty.

The head of the International Monetary Fund, Michel Camdessus, is also attending.

The IMF and the World Bank's member countries have already agreed a new approach to poverty reduction and debt relief.

But critics argue that the IMF is obsessed with low inflation, and that its economic programmes instituted in various countries achieve that by slashing government spending and making poverty worse.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service