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Wolfowitz vows to fight for job

World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz on Sunday dug in his heels over the promotion he approved for his girlfriend and said he intends to stay in his job, even as bank member governments voiced "great concern" the institution might not be able to function properly.

"I believe in the mission of this organization and I believe that I can carry it out," Wolfowitz told a news conference shortly after the World Bank development committee issued a strongly worded statement conveying unease.

The committee of aid ministers from around the globe said it was crucial the bank's credibility not be tarnished by the controversy over the high-paying promotion Wolfowitz agreed for his girlfriend, bank employee Shaha Riza, before she was assigned to work at the State Department.

"The current situation is of great concern to all of us," the ministers said in a communique after the committee met.

"We have to ensure that the bank can effectively carry out its mandate and maintain its credibility and reputation as well as motivation of the staff," the ministers said.

In a news conference shortly after those tough words, Wolfowitz said a decision on the matter should be left to the bank's board of member countries.

"We need to work our way through this," he said. "The board is looking into the matter and we'll let them complete their work."

The former Pentagon No. 2 cited his accomplishments since taking the helm of the poverty-fighting lender in mid-2005, pointing at several projects in Africa, where he has found his strongest backing.

But the bank staff association renewed a call for Wolfowitz to quit.

"We do not see how he can possibly regain the trust of the staff," association chair Alison Cave said. "We don't see how he can regain the credibility that has been lost."

"I don't think he fully understands how much this has damaged the organization," she said.

European countries, including Britain and Germany, were the most vocal in making a case that the scandal threatened to cripple the bank.

In an interview, the Dutch Development Minister Bert Koenders said he believed the row had put the bank into a crisis situation that needed to be resolved quickly.

"It has become clear to us ... that there is also a lack of trust at the moment in the leadership and in the management. So, that is something that has to be resolved," he said.

"It was important to lay down the line. And the fact that the United States itself accepted it reinforces the message," German Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul told reporters.

"An institution like the World Bank lives by its moral authority and its credibility," she said.

The New York Times yesterday called for the ouster of Wolfowitz, saying he should step down since he had championed good governance and has "fallen far short of his own standards."

"What might Mr Wolfowitz himself say if he discovered that a government receiving World Bank loans was making similar sweet arrangements for the personal friends of its president?" the paper asked.

"There is no way Mr Wolfowitz can recover his credibility and continue to be effective at the bank," it said.

The European Commission also voiced their concern yesterday and expressed the hope that the scandal would not affect cooperation.

"We hope this will be dealt with in a proper way. We hope that this will not affect our cooperation, which is increasing and which is crucial" for developing countries especially in Africa, said Amadeu Altafaj Tardio, spokesman for EU Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Louis Michel.

"We are concerned about the institution, we are concerned about these allegations of course, and we are monitoring this," he told reporters in Brussels.
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