WASHINGTON-Rep. Jennifer Dunn (R-Wash.) asked the Bush administration to press the government of Cote d’Ivoire to make amends for the forced closure in that country of a mobile-phone system owned by Western Wireless Corp. and other U.S. investors.
“I request that you bring all of the Commerce Department’s weight to bear on the government of Cote d’Ivoire so that full responsibility is assumed for its role in the destruction of Cora de Comstar,” said Dunn in an Oct. 24 letter to William Lash, assistant secretary for market access and compliance of the International Trade Administration.
ITA is a housed in the Commerce Department. The State Department and U.S. Trade Representative are also looking into the situation.
Cora, an upstart GSM carrier in which Western Wireless and Modern African Fund have invested more than $40 million, was shut down Oct. 12 after armed threats and looting by an alleged convicted felon and international criminal named Alexandre Galley, according to the company and U.S. officials.
Western Wireless and Modern Africa Fund shortly will file an expropriation claim with Cote d’Ivoire officials in hopes of securing compensation for the wireless business loss.
“You will hopefully be able to impress upon the government of Cote d’Ivoire that a hospitable investment climate is critically important to the current regime’s future,” said Dunn.
In coming months, the U.S. Trade Representative will review and decide early next year whether to continue benefits to countries, including Cote d’Ivoire, covered by a 2003 African trade bill.
