World Bank chief Robert Zoellick has warned the Kenyan government that the agency may need to pull out key projects in the country if violence does not abate soon. “The government runs a risk, if we don’t reach a resolution of this we have to figure out how do we adjust the programs, whether we can continue them,” Zoellick rued. “Where we have violence we have to stop missions. We can’t have people out in some of the countryside.” He denied, however, that the suspension of projects would be a political move in any way. “We don’t want to, in a sense, leverage the livelihood and health of the people of Kenya to try to press their leaders,” Zoellick insisted. “We’re trying to press their leaders by pointing out the fact, as others have, that destruction and death doesn’t help a country advance.” The bank currently has a total of USD1 billion in funds pledged to various programs for Kenya, which suffered a spate of intense violence following a widely-disputed presidential election.
Source: World Bank president says violence in Kenya could force it to pull programs (AP)
