The World Bank was yesterday struggling to reaffirm its neutrality in Kenya following the leaking of confidential memos that provide an account of the country's post-election crisis that appears to favour Mwai Kibaki, the president.

In the first of two memos obtained by the Financial Times, Colin Bruce, the bank's representative in Kenya, marshalls the case for accepting a Kibaki win after drawing on information he says was provided by United Nations officials. His finding, on January 1, runs counter to most foreign observers' appraisals, including the European Union monitoring mission which Mr Bruce singles out for criticism.