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Worldbank withdraw presence { August 20 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
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World Bank to withdraw presence from Iraq
By Peter Spiegel and Edward Alden in Washington
Published: August 20 2003 20:55 | Last Updated: August 21 2003 3:06
The World Bank has decided to pull its staff out of Iraq after the bomb attack on the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad.
Staff at the institution, a key part of the US-led coalition's efforts to rebuild Iraq's economy, would be relocated to Jordan "for security reasons until we are certain the situation has improved", it said.
The bank has also suspended plans to open an office in Baghdad within the next few weeks.
The decision is the first concrete sign that Tuesday's bombing could hinder the coalition's efforts to rebuild Iraq.
Some countries considering sending troops to Iraq, such as India and Pakistan, were finding pressure building against such deployments, foreign officials said on Wednesday.
Governments in several countries approached by the US to send troops have sought a UN resolution authorising deployments. But some US officials think these are delaying tactics as potential participants assess the security situation.
The US sought to play down the impact of Tuesday's attack on security in Iraq.
"The security problem now has got a terrorist dimension, which is new, but the rest of the security is basically in better shape than it was three months ago," Paul Bremer, the US administrator, told CBS. "It is true that we're taking some casualties among the coalition forces, but that's largely coming from a small group of bitter-enders."
Kofi Annan, UN secretary-general, also sought to present a determined front, saying the UN would continue its work in Iraq despite the loss of several of its staff in the explosion, including Sérgio Vieira de Mello, its top representative there. "We will not be intimidated," he said.
The World Bank decision means that 15 staff working on assessing the needs of Iraqis in preparation for an October international donors' conference will be removed indefinitely.
The International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday that all six of its employees in Baghdad had been wounded in the attack, but that it had made no decision on a longer-term pull-out.
The US treasury department said it had been assured by both the World Bank and IMF that they were still committed to the reconstruction. "Their commitment is unwavering," said a treasury official.
The bombing could have a severe impact on General Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's pro-US military ruler, who is seeking a parliamentary vote on whether to send about 12,000 troops to Iraq following a request by the US.
Pakistani officials said the decision to refer the matter to parliament, rather than simply order peacekeepers in, was a shift for Gen Musharraf, who faces growing pressure to rebuff US requests.
However, Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's prime minister, remains committed to pushing approval for a peacekeeping force of up to 30,000 troops through parliament.
Additional reporting by Farhan Bokhari in Islamabad, Metin Munir in Istanbul and Edward Luce in New Delhi
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