Childhood -- A student in Paris -- Cairo, 1957-1960 -- Parisian interlude, January-September 1960 -- Bamako, 1960-1963 -- Professor of political economy, 1963-1970 -- The political context, 1960-1998 -- Director of the Institute for Economic Planning and Development, 1970-1980 -- The Third World Forum -- Towards a common front of the world's peoples?