Wolf vs. Wolf: WB regions take sides. The civil war within the World Bank, described by our Washington Source, is delineated by Krishna Guha and Eoin Callan in today's Financial Times. While the side-taking takes on a regional hue, it's basically departments dominated by Wolfowitz appointees versus departments dominated by Wolfensohn appointees, they say. They also say the managers for an entire region are threatening to resign en masse if Wolfowitz doesn't go.

Their reading of the break-down at the Bank:

"Those from the bank’s Latin America region expressed strong support for [Managing Director Graeme] Wheeler’s position [calling at an upper-management meeting for Wolfowitz to resign for the good of the Bank] and agreed to threaten to resign en mass if Mr Wolfowitz stayed.

"The East Asia and South Asia management teams also appeared to side with Mr Wheeler and against Mr Wolfowitz.

"Meanwhile, the Africa and Middle East managers looked to be siding with Mr Wolfowitz.

"The fissure that has opened at the top of the bank mirrors a gaping divide throughout the institution between Wolfowitz loyalists and the majority of officials who were there under his predecessor, Jim Wolfensohn.

"The regions leaning in favour of Mr Wolfowitz are headed by officials appointed to vice-president rank by him; the regions leaning against him are headed by vice-presidents from the Wolfensohn bank.

"At the vice-president level, the number of Wolfowitz appointees and Wolfensohn era executives is roughly equal. At all other levels of management and staff, officials from the Wolfensohn bank greatly outnumber the Wolfowitz appointees."

Soren Ambrose ~ April 19, 2007

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