GMG CHIONG tomoro

Ivory Coast crisis should be resolved very soon and GMG will chiong soon once this temp blip is gone and kateks opportunist are gone and panic short-covering will push GMG higher,

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World Bank freezes loans to troubled Ivory Coast

By ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: Dec 22, 2010 19:23 Updated: Dec 22, 2010 19:24

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast: The World Bank said Wednesday it had frozen loans to Ivory Coast as France urged its citizens to leave the West African country amid heightened UN concerns the nation faced a “real risk” of returning to civil war.

The United Nations and other world leaders recognize Alassane Ouattara as the winner of the Nov. 28 runoff vote.

Laurent Gbagbo, the incumbent who refuses to concede defeat and leave the presidency, said late Tuesday that “the international community has declared war on Ivory Coast.” Gbagbo said in the televised speech that he doesn’t want “any blood to be spilled,” but maintained he was president of the country despite international calls for him to step down. Over the weekend, he ordered all UN peacekeepers out of the country immediately in an escalation of tensions.

The UN considers Ouattara president and is staying put, raising fears that UN personnel and other foreigners could be targeted in violence as tensions mount. At least 50 people have been killed in recent days, according to the UN The US State Department has already ordered most of its personnel to leave because of what officials called a deteriorating security situation and growing anti-Western sentiment. Germany’s Foreign Ministry also has recommended that its nationals leave.

French government spokesman Francois Baroin said Wednesday that French citizens who can leave Ivory Coast should do so temporarily, citing “undeniable sources of worry” in the country. At least 13,000 French people are currently believed to be in Ivory Coast, which maintains close ties to France and was once the crown jewel of its former West African colonial empire.

After a meeting in Paris with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, World Bank chief Robert Zoellick confirmed Wednesday that loans have been halted to Ivory Coast. The World Bank’s aid commitment to Ivory Coast was $841.9 million as of January 2010, according to the bank’s website.

“The World Bank has currently stopped lending and disbursing funds to the Ivory Coast and the World Bank’s office (in Abidjan) has been closed,” a statement from the agency said.

“The World Bank and the African Development Bank have supported ECOWAS and the African Union, in sending the message to President Gbagbo that he has lost the election and needs to step down,” it said.

Ouattara has also sought to use financial pressure to force Gbagbo out, appealing to the West African central bank (BCEAO) to cut off his access to state coffers, making it impossible to pay civil servants and soldiers. Such a move could set the stage for mass defections and turn the tide against Gbagbo.

The latest international pressure on Wednesday to force Gbagbo out comes amid rising concerns about violence in Ivory Coast. The UN says that it has growing evidence of “massive violations of human rights.” Over the weekend, masked gunmen opened fire on the UN base in Ivory Coast, though no one from the global body was harmed in the attack. Two military observers were wounded in another attack. The UN also says armed men have been intimidating UN staff at their private homes.

Toussaint Alain, an adviser for Gbagbo, said he didn’t believe soldiers or people close to Gbagbo would carry out such acts.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday also expressed concern that peacekeepers will face a critical situation in the coming days unless Gbagbo removes a blockade around his opponent’s headquarters. Hundreds of UN troops are protecting the hotel where Ouattara is based, but they are encircled by forces loyal to Gbagbo.

Gbagbo said late Tuesday that people could leave the Golf Hotel, but Ouattara’s people say they’re still not venturing out for fear of a trap. And the UN has said that its supply convoys are still being turned back, and that food, water and needed medication aren’t getting through.

“Any attempt to starve the United Nations mission into submission will not be tolerated,” Ban said Tuesday.

Ban is also worried about fighters from neighboring Liberia entering into the growing political crisis in Ivory Coast. The UN peacekeeping force in Ivory Coast has “confirmed that mercenaries, including freelance former combatants from Liberia, have been recruited to target certain groups in the population, he said.

Ivory Coast’s 2002-2003 civil war saw the involvement of Liberians fighting on nearly all sides of the conflict.

Liberia itself suffered brutal back-to-back civil wars that lasted until 2003, and the two countries share a porous, 370-mile-(600-kilometer)-long border. Liberia’s president has urged citizens not to get involved in Ivory Coast’s latest political crisis.

Ivory Coast was once an economic hub because of its role as the world’s top cocoa producer. The 2002-2003 civil war split the country into a rebel-controlled north and a loyalist south. While the country officially reunited in a 2007 peace deal, Ouattara still draws his support from the northern half of the country where he was born while Gbagbo’s power base is in the south.

Gbagbo claimed victory in the presidential election only after his allies threw out half a million ballots from Ouattara strongholds in the north, a move that infuriated residents there who have long felt they are treated as foreigners in their own country by southerners.

Experts say there are few strong options for forcing Gbagbo out of office as there is little support for a military intervention. The United States imposed sanctions Tuesday against Gbagbo, his wife and about 30 allies, and the EU also has approved sanctions. Such punitive measures, though, have typically failed to reverse illegal power grabs in Africa in the past.

Thailand’s role in record rubber prices

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Another day, another record price for rubber.

Two years ago south-east Asian producers were talking about grubbing up rubber trees in an attempt to bolster the price of latex. They didn’t do it, and just as well – growing demand and tight supply have driven prices up into previously uncharted territory.On Wednesday, Thai rubber (RSS3) was up 5c at $4.95/kilo, more than four times its December 2008 price of $1.10/kg.

Rubber consumers – 60 per cent of natural latex goes to make vehicle tyres – are being squeezed. The price rise is partly a result of the global boom in soft commodities.

Rubber prices seem to have lost their traditional linkage to oil prices and are now taking their cue from other products. But the price is also being driven by more traditional pressures.

Since the nadir of the crisis two years ago demand has come back with a vengeance: the Chinese automotive market is booming, and despite a sluggish recovery in the west, drivers are still buying new tyres.

Meanwhile, supply is static at about 10m tonnes a year. Thailand, the world’s largest producer, had a dry first half of 2010, and the harvest was disrupted in the second half by flooding in some of the most productive areas of the country.“

Demand is growing faster than supply,” said Chayo Trangadisaikul, the president of the Federation of Thai Industries Rubber-based Industries Club, but he says there is also a technical element.

“Towards the end of the year, the statistics come out and they show we’re not going to have enough rubber,” he said.

Some analysts say that is too downbeat, that there are too many variables to be sure: the weather, the sustainability of the economic recovery, just how much latex has been stockpiled could all have a significant impact on the market.

But economists say supply is going to remain tight for a while, and there are some concerns that over-tapping to take advantage of the recent hike in prices might actually reduce output.

Some new production is coming on stream. In 2004 Thaksin Shinawatra, Thailand’s former prime minister, launched his ambitious programme to plant a million rai (4m acres) with rubber saplings. But it takes seven years before a rubber tree produces commercial quantities of rubber so, cateris paribus, it looks like the market is going to be tight for at least another 18 months or so.

Just be glad that the producing countries didn’t follow through with their plan to cut down their rubber trees.

(Source: blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2010/12/22/tha...ecord-rubber-prices/ )

Very soon, GMG will recover from this temp blip, the wise are accumulating while the weak holders are throwing the baby out with the bathtub:

World Bank freezes financing to Ivory Coast

The pressure on Laurent Gbagbo, the man sitting tight as incumbent president of Ivory Coast despite almost universal condemnation, continues to intensify.

The World Bank has now twisted the screws by freezing all loans to Ivory Coast and the assets of Mr Gbagbo himself.

The United States says it is talking with regional African countries about boosting UN troops in Ivory Coast.

Meanwhile, Guillaume Soro, the man serving as prime minister to Mr Gbagbo's rival, Alassane Outtara, has said Mr Gbagbo should be removed by force.

BBC Network Africa's Akwasi Sarpong asked our reporter in Abidjan, John James, how Mr Soro's strong statement had been received there.

www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/2010/1...ivory_coast_wb.shtml

ECOWAS Leaders Meet Over Ivory Coast Crisis

Peter Clottey 23 December 2010

An official of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) told VOA several heads of state and government in the sub-region are in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, to participate in an emergency summit to find ways to resolve the political crisis in Ivory Coast.

Sonny Ugoh, communications director for ECOWAS, said it will be premature for them to employ militarily force to remove Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo from power.

“Later today, heads of state will be meeting to review the situation in Cote d’Ivoire since their last summit and see what additional things they need to do, (and) what additional measures they will need to agree on to realize the objective that they have enunciated in their last communiqué on their last extraordinary summit also on Cote d’Ivoire,” said Ugoh, to see how they can bring to fruition the takeover of (Alassane) Ouattara as the president, as reflected in the last document that they had here.”

Supporters of former Prime Minister Ouattara have called on the international community to use force to remove Mr. Gbagbo from power saying targeted sanctions have not yielded the desired result.

The international community, including ECOWAS, has recognized Mr. Ouattara as the winner of Ivory Coast’s 28th November presidential run-off vote and has demanded President Gbagbo step down and hand over power to his successor.

But, Mr. Gbagbo, who is backed by the country’s military, has so far refused to step down, despite increasing international pressure to do so. He maintains he is the country’s true president saying he is willing to allow envoys from the African Union, the European Union and the United Nations to form a panel to study the post-election crisis.

Ugoh said it is imperative for the sub-regional bloc to help resolve the Ivorian crisis.

“It will be irresponsible of us to just pretend that because we have taken a decision at the last extraordinary summit that that is all we can do. I think we will engage with the issue of Cote d’Ivoire until (the issues are) resolved and there is a peaceful transition to President Ouattara.”

Meanwhile, the United States says it is talking with African nations about the possibility of boosting international peacekeepers in Ivory Coast.

U.S. officials say any move to increase the 10,000-person U.N. peacekeeping force would not be aimed at deposing Mr. Gbagbo, but to deter him from using his own forces to stay in power.

www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/ECOW...isis--112407254.html

Gbagbo denied Ivory Coast funds

Source: BBC - BBC News

The Central Bank of West African States has blocked Laurent Gbagbo's access to Ivory Coast's funds and has recognised Alassane Ouattara as president.

The bank says only appointed members of Ivory Coast's "legitimate government" will have access to the deposits there.

The BCEAO had been urged to restrict access as it will make it difficult for Mr Gbagbo to pay the military, and increase pressure on him to step down.

Violence since last month's disputed election has left 173 people dead.

A senior UN official said its investigators had also found evidence of extrajudicial executions, more than 90 cases of torture and 500 arrests, as well as abductions, kidnappings, acts of sexual violence, and destruction of property.

The UN Human Rights Council expressed deep concern about the unrest, and unanimously adopted a resolution condemning the "atrocities".

Mr Gbagbo says the 28 November poll, meant to unify a country split by civil war in 2002, was rigged in rebel areas that backed Mr Ouattara.

The Independent Electoral Commission ruled that Mr Ouattara had won, a decision later certified by the UN. But the Constitutional Council said Mr Gbagbo had been elected, citing vote rigging in some areas.

The UN General Assembly gave Mr Ouattara a further boost late on Thursday, by unanimously deciding to recognise his choice of diplomats as the sole official representatives of Ivory Coast to the UN.

Emergency summit

At the same time as the UN Human Rights Council met in Geneva, finance ministers in West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) agreed to tell the BCEAO to hand over control of Ivory Coast's state accounts to Mr Ouattara.

"The Council of Ministers has noted the decisions of the UN, African Union and Ecowas [Economic Community of West African States] to recognise Alassane Ouattara as the legitimately elected president of Ivory Coast," a statement said, according to the Agence France-Presse news agency.

The council had decided that only "officials regularly designated by the legitimate government of Ivory Coast" could access the country's deposits and represent it within the UEMOA, the statement added.

The ministers instructed the central bank and all regional banks "to take all security measures to ensure the rigorous application of these measures".

The BBC's John James in Abidjan says the decision cuts off a major source of funds for Mr Gbagbo, who has shown no sign of stepping down.

Mr Gbagbo still has control of state television and the public support of the army, but without access to Ivory Coast's state accounts it is going to be extremely difficult to pay the salaries of soldiers and civil servants next month, even if he almost certainly has other financial reserves, our correspondent says.

But, analysts say the move by the finance ministers is risky, because Ivory Coast is by far the most important economy in the West African CFA monetary zone, whose eight members all use the franc CFA.

Although Mr Gbagbo has tried to paint the international condemnation of his decision to stay on in power as a plot by former colonial power France, West Africa's leaders have been some of the most vocal critics, our correspondent says.

On Friday, they will gather in Nigeria for an emergency meeting of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) and are likely to consider a range of measures against Mr Gbagbo, including the possibility of military action, he adds.

It sent troops to bring peace to Liberia and Sierra Leone in the 1990s.

'Avoid violence'

Mr Ouattara and his supporters are currently holed up in the Golf Hotel in Abidjan, protected by 800 peacekeepers from Unoci. They are in turn being blockaded by soldiers loyal to Mr Gbagbo.

The incumbent president has demanded that UN and French troops leave the country immediately. A close ally even warned that they could be treated as rebels if they did not obey the instruction.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Tuesday that any attempt to "starve the United Nations mission into submission" would not be tolerated, told the international community that it "cannot stand by".

Guillaume Soro, the former rebel commander appointed prime minister by Mr Ouattara, meanwhile urged the use of force to oust Mr Gbagbo.

"The Ivorians cannot engage in talks with a dictator," he said.

A US government specialist on Africa, William Fitzgerald, told the BBC that various options for defusing the crisis were being considered, but that "we're really trying to avoid violence if at all possible".

Natural rubber prices rise to all-time high

Press Trust of India, December 23, 2010 (New Delhi)

Natural rubber prices on Thursday touched a new record at Rs. 207 per kg in Kerala on concerns over the domestic supply coupled with rising global rates.

"There is a tight supply situation which has fuelled the price rise and also a spurt in the international prices of natural rubber which are now ruling at Rs. 222 per kg," Rubber Dealers Federation of India President George Vally said.

Natural rubber prices are on a gaining spree for the past few months due to continuous rain in central Kerala and in Malabar region which adversely affected tapping, according to the federation.

Last month, rubber prices had zoomed to a high of Rs. 203 per kg but later it came down to Rs. 196 per kg.

The rising global prices have also contributed in the increase in domestic rubber rates.

Rubber prices have gone up in the international market due to increase in demand from China, coupled with disruption in production in Thailand, the largest producer, due to floods.

According to the Rubber Board estimates, India is likely to produce 8.93 lakh tonnes of rubber in the current fiscal while consumption would be around 9.78 lakh tonnes.

Recently, the Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries, which accounts for 92 per cent of global output, has announced that the global natural rubber supply may drop by 3.8 per cent in the October-December period.

Read more at: profit.ndtv.com/news/show/natural-rubber...-time-high-131417?cp