October

The New York Times
October 3, 2003
World Bank Inaugurates Oil Pipeline In Africa
By Elizabeth Becker

The World Bank announced the inauguration of a new Chad-Cameroon oil pipeline on Thursday and promised to help prevent this project from leading to poverty and corruption as such projects so often have in other poor nations.

But environment advocates and human rights groups have yet to be convinced. They said the project had failed to protect labor rights and human rights and had needlessly damaged the rain forest that the pipeline traverses through Cameroon on its way to the Atlantic Ocean. Indeed, the government of Chad spent some of its signing bonus from the private oil consortium on military needs before the World Bank interceded and stopped the spending on arms.

Jon Sohn, the international campaigner for Friends of the Earth, said: "Chad and Cameroon are failing on environmental, social and poverty alleviation grounds. Why is the World Bank using public funds to promote the oil business?"

Chad, which has a poor human rights record and is one of the world's poorest countries, will receive an estimated $2 billion over the coming years and that is expected to double the average annual income to $550 from $250 in the next three years, according to World Bank officials.