Scammer
Banned
-- Two leading Ivory Coast banks closed their doors this week, raising fears that a money shortage will worsen the crisis in the West African nation.
Mounting security concerns prompted BICICI and Citibank to suspend operations Monday.
Paris-based BNP Paribas, parent of BICICI, issued a statement saying it has done its best to serve clients despite the instability in Ivory Coast.
"Over these past few days, however, legal uncertainty has significantly increased," the statement said. The bank, it said, "is therefore no longer able to ensure legal and accounting security for its clients. It has thus decided to temporarily halt the bank's activities until further notice."
Ivory Coast has been in crisis since a late November election that ended in dispute.
The international community has pressed incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo to relinquish power to Alassane Ouattara, who foreign powers say won the election.
The political standoff in the country has raised fears of a renewal of the bloodshed suffered after a civil war broke out in 2002.
More than 33,000 people have fled to neighboring Liberia since the crisis began; another 20,000 have been internally displaced, U.N. agencies estimate.
Mounting security concerns prompted BICICI and Citibank to suspend operations Monday.
Paris-based BNP Paribas, parent of BICICI, issued a statement saying it has done its best to serve clients despite the instability in Ivory Coast.
"Over these past few days, however, legal uncertainty has significantly increased," the statement said. The bank, it said, "is therefore no longer able to ensure legal and accounting security for its clients. It has thus decided to temporarily halt the bank's activities until further notice."
Ivory Coast has been in crisis since a late November election that ended in dispute.
The international community has pressed incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo to relinquish power to Alassane Ouattara, who foreign powers say won the election.
The political standoff in the country has raised fears of a renewal of the bloodshed suffered after a civil war broke out in 2002.
More than 33,000 people have fled to neighboring Liberia since the crisis began; another 20,000 have been internally displaced, U.N. agencies estimate.
