Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Lawmaker requests amends for shutdown African mobile network

From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 28 Oct 2003 03:50:18 -0500

Lawmaker requests amends for shutdown African mobile network
By Jeffrey Silva
October 27 15:25:00, 2003

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.
http://rcrnews.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?newsId=15675

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