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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