US-run MCC terminates $460m compact in Mali

The Millennium Challenge Corporation’s (MCC) has decided to terminate its compact in Mali. The compact which was scheduled to conclude on September 17, 2012 has been cancelled as a result of the military intervention in that country, the MCC has said.

The military coup in Mali it says represents a “clear departure from MCC’s values and the principles articulated in MCC’s selection criteria”.

“Consistent with this decision, the compact will end early—no later than August 31, 2012—and MCC will not complete the anticipated set of activities,” the US-run agency said.

The Corporation’s Board of Directors on May 4, 2012 gave the MCC’s Chief Executive Officer Daniel W. Yohannes the go-ahead to terminate the compact.

“In light of the ongoing situation, MCC will formally terminate its partnership with the Government of Mali and has initiated an orderly wind up of compact activities,” Yohannes said in a statement.

MCC will work with Millennium Challenge Account-Mali to ensure that compact termination is responsible and orderly, it added.

Mr. Yohannes stated that the MCC remains concerned about the future of the people of Mali and is “saddened by the fact that an undemocratic seizure of power by so few has caused the termination of a compact” with the potential to improve the lives of so many.

The Mali compact, which started in 2006, included two projects – the Bamako Sénou Airport Improvement Project to improve Mali’s link to the regional and global economy and the Alatona Irrigation Project, which includes infrastructure and social investments to increase agricultural productivity in the Alatona zone.

The compact was designed to benefit more than two million poor Malians.

By Ekow Quandzie