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| Africa Subsaharan |
| Cote d'Ivoire finances frozen by World Bank |
| 2010-12-23 |
| [Al Jazeera] The World Bank has frozen finance to Cote d'Ivoire amid a political crisis in the West African country whose incumbent president, Laurent Gbagbo, insists on asserting his leadership in defiance of the international community's wishes. Robert Zoellick, the World Bank head, confirmed on Wednesday that the loans were stopped. The World Bank's aid commitment to Cote d'Ivoire was $841.9 million as of January 2010, according to the bank's website. "The World Bank has currently stopped lending and disbursing funds to the Ivory Coast and the World Bank's office [in the capital Abidjan] has been closed,'' a statement from the organisation said. "The World Bank and the African Development Bank have supported ECOWAS [Economic Community of West African States] and the African Union, in sending the message to President Gbagbo that he has lost the election and needs to step down." The decision drew a strong reaction from Gbagbo's team, with Yao Gnamiea, his special adviser on diplomatic affairs, calling the finance freeze unfair. "This is a political deadlock, not a governance issue, and I strongly believe the decision is unfair, and uninformed," Gnamiea told Al Jizz from Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire's commercial hub. "Cote d'Ivoire is a nation with its own legal system and institutions, and it will use all the resources it has to solve this problem." |
| Posted by:Fred |