Greetings from Washington! I have travelled to Washington to participate in planning meetings with activists from around the world on World Bank and IMF issues, in addition to meeting with our representatives at the World Bank and IMF as they prepare to hold their bi-annual meetings on the 14th - 15th April.

Wolfowitz on the way out?

This years Spring meetings descended into farce as a scandal broke just days before the meetings were due to begin on Saturday. The president of the World Bank, Paul Wolfowitz found himself in the midst of a personal scandal, following his admission that he personally intervened in the awarding of a pay rise and promotion to a bank official with whom he is romantically involved.
Activists from North and South quickly came to a common view that Paul Wolfowitz should resign. We believe that it is unacceptable for Wolfowitz to stay when such questions (continue) to surround his integrity. It is ironic that since his appointment Wolfowitz controversially took on the role of anti-corruption judge regarding the performance of certain governments in the South - now he must live up to his own rhetoric of zero tolerance on corruption and resign. Debt and Development Coalition have called on the Irish government to demand his resignation.

At a meeting with the German development minister on Saturday, activists from European Union countries appealed to her to indicate where EU governments stand on the issue. We have fears that some governments may use this opportunity, not to call for Wolfowitz's resignation, but to allow him to stay in his position but in a weakened state. The German minister remained tight lipped on the issue. Watch www.worldbankpresident.org for updates on this unfolding drama.

Demo outside the Bank

As calls for Wolfowitz's resignation mounted, many activists gathered outside of the Bank calling for him to resign. It is rumoured that some World Bank staff assisted with printing of some of our posters reading "Resign! Board Act Now!". The demo was lively and was lead by many activists from DRC who were demanding that the Bank cease operations in DRC. For info on their important campign see www.friendsofthecongo.org.

Moving Forward on the Illegitimate Debt Campaigning

A large group of us working on illegitiamte debt held a meeting on Thursday in order to strategise on our campaigning for the cancellation of illegitimate debts. Lidy Nacpil from Jubilee South highlighted to the group a parliamentarians statement that has been launched by activists in the North and South in collaboration with some parliamentarians who are members of the Parliamentary Network on the World Bank. Already more than 100 parliamentarians from around the world have signed the statement. See www.debtdeclaration.org to read the statement. Watch this space for ideas for bringing this to the attention of our parliamentarians in Ireland…..

We also discussed the concept of holding a global debt audit which will represent a North - South collaborative project to facilitiate campaigners in the North and South to investigate concrete concerns surrounding World Bank and IMF lending. This is an exciting initiative which the Coalition will be discussing more with campaigners in the North and South in the weeks ahead.

And many, many other meetings…..

I attended a miriad of other meetings, including discussions on campaigning for an end to economic conditionality and World Bank funding of fossil fuels. I also met with Irish and other World Bank and IMF officials to hear their views on illeigitmate debts among other issues. On illegitimate debt, I thought that World Bank and IMF officials do acknowledge that irresponsible lending has happened in the past and that it is not fair to expect impoverished countries to pay back unjust loans. The key problem according to them is difficulty in implementing a scheme which could define which debts should be cancelled.

We will be following up with you again soon on how we can follow up with actions that respond to these challenges.

Nessa