Germany steps up pressure on Wolfowitz

Washington/Berlin: Paul Wolfowitz made an emotional appeal yesterday to stay on as World Bank president, but Germany stepped up pressure on him to resign, saying he would not be welcome at a forum the bank is holding next week in Berlin.

Wolfowitz made the appeal in a last pitch before the bank's board decides whether he has the credibility to lead the institution set up to help fight poverty.

The US government failed to rally support among its key allies for a strategy aimed at saving Wolfowitz his job, even as a bank panel found that he violated ethics rules in pushing through a promotion and pay rise for his companion Shaha Riza.

Criticism

"He would do the bank and himself a great service if he resigned," German Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, one of Wolfowitz's strongest critics, said.

She advised him not to take part in a two-day World Bank forum on development aid for Africa which starts on Monday.

Wolfowitz was defiant on Tuesday as he appeared before the bank board. "I respectfully submit, to criticise my actions or to find them as a basis for a loss of confidence would be grossly unfair," he said.