President George W. Bush has removed violence-torn Ivory Coast from the list of African countries eligible for trade preferences under a U.S. trade pact, the White House said on Wednesday. The move was part of Bush's annual review of countries eligible for economic and trade benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act. While Bush dropped Ivory Coast from the list, he designated Burkina Faso, a main cotton-producing nation, eligible for the benefits, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said in a statement. Thirty-six other countries have also been deemed eligible, including South Africa, Kenya and Uganda. Countries are deemed eligible for the trade preferences based on criteria such as progress toward a market-based economy and the embrace of democratic principles. Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa grower and a country once seen as a model of African prosperity and stability, has been in crisis since rebels seized the north in September 2002. Although civil war was declared over last year, the former French colony remains divided and serious violence has flared repeatedly, stoking fears of a return to all-out conflict. An upsurge last month prompted thousands of Westerners to flee.
