African at the World Bank?

In an open letter published Wednesday, 39 former World Bank managers and economists urged the bank's executive board to select a new president in a "transparent and merit-based" manner rather than in line with "understandings that no longer reflect the world as it is today."

Writing in their personal capacity, the former officials explicitly backed the candidacy of Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, saying she had "outstanding qualifications across the full range of relevant criteria."

"Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala would bring the combination of her experience as finance and foreign minister of a large and complex African country with her experience of working at all levels of the Bank's hierarchy in different parts of the world," they said.

However, under an unwritten agreement, the World Bank president hails from the United States, while a European heads the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The letter was signed by a number of Europeans - including Francois Bourguignon, who was the bank's chief economist between 2003 and 2007 - as well as Barbara Kafka, an American who held a number of top posts at the bank in the past 33 years.

The signatories said they were "too concerned" for the institution and its historic mission "not to speak up."

Mounting support

The World Bank executive board is scheduled to select a successor to outgoing chief Robert Zoellick and will interview three candidates for the post next week.

In what's widely seen as an historic challenge to the US grip on the post, American nominee Jim Yong Kim, a health expert and president of Dartmouth College, will compete against the Jose Antonio Ocampo, a former Columbian finance minister, as well as Okonjo-Iweala.

Major emerging countries like Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa said after a meeting March that they "welcome the candidatures from the developing world," stopping short, however, of explicitly supporting any of the candidates

As the race for the World Bank presidency is heating up, Zoellick said it was important for US candidates to get "top leadership roles" in international institutions.

"If you want to keep the United States engaged in multilateral organizations, keep openings somewhere," he told reporters in March, adding that the issue was to secure crucial US funding for these organizations.

uhe/sms (AFP, AP)