From the pages of the Freedom Newspaper:
Breaking news-The Gambia Suspended from Millennium Challenge Compact
Program
16 June 2006
The Gambia Suspended from Millennium Challenge Compact Program
MCC cites human rights abuses, actions inconsistent with selection criteria
By Charles W. Corey
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington -- The board of directors of the U.S. Millennium Challenge
Corporation (MCC) suspended the Gambia's eligibility for MCC assistance June 16,
citing a pattern of actions inconsistent with MCC's selection criteria.
The board based its decision on documented evidence of human rights abuses
in the country and increased restrictions on political rights, civil liberties
and press freedom by the government, as well as worsening economic policies
and diminishing anti-corruption efforts, an MCC statement said. To support
its decision, MCC considered reports from several organizations, including
Freedom House, the Heritage Foundation, the World Economic Forum, the Economist
Intelligence Unit and the U.S. Department of State.
"The board's decision was necessary, given the disturbing pattern of
deteriorating conditions in eight of the 16 policy categories used to evaluate all
candidate countries, including the Gambia," said Ambassador John Danilovich,
MCC's chief executive officer.
"Continued participation in the Millennium Challenge program requires our
partner countries to maintain good policies and is contingent upon adherence to
fundamental principles necessary to make progress in their own development,"
Danilovich said. "MCC would welcome the opportunity to consider the Gambia's
reinstatement after the government has taken tangible and significant
actions to address the areas of decline and embrace political and economic reforms."
The board annually selects countries for Millennium Challenge Account (MCA)
eligibility from a pool of candidate countries based on each country's
demonstrated commitment in three broad policy categories -- "ruling justly,"
"investing in people" and "promoting economic freedom" -- as measured by
performance on 16 independent policy indicators within their income peer group.
The Gambia was notified in November 2005 that it was eligible for MCA
funding, according to the MCC statement, and only preliminary discussions about the
program had been undertaken prior to the June 16 announcement. (See _related
article_ (http://usinfo.state.gov/ei/Archive/2005/Nov/09-949636.html) .)
Under MCC's policy on suspension and termination of assistance, the board
may reinstate eligibility for a country if it determines that the country has
taken corrective action or has demonstrated a sufficient commitment to
correcting each condition for which eligibility for assistance was suspended.
The Millennium Challenge Corporation, a United States government
corporation designed to work with some of the poorest countries in the world, bases its
assistance on the principle that aid is most effective when it reinforces
good governance, economic freedom and investments in people that promote
economic growth and elimination of extreme poverty.
For additional information, see _Millennium Challenge Account_
(http://usinfo.state.gov/ei/economic_issues/mca.html) .
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information
Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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