Chad

Chad, one of the world's poorest countries, is set to join the elite club of oil-producing nations Tuesday as black gold begins flowing into a pipeline towards a terminal in the Atlantic Ocean off Cameroon. The multi-billion dollar project, co-funded by the World Bank and a consortium of oil companies led by ExxonMobil, is expected to generate up to 250,000 barrels of oil a day when it reaches full operating capacity. But promises of riches for the landlocked desert country of eight million...read more

A lack of adequate health care and an increase in migration and prostitution that has accompanied the construction of a $3.7 billion oil pipeline route in Cameroon and Chad have created ideal conditions for the spread of HIV, the Los Angeles Times reports in the second article in a two-part series on the pipeline.

The Chad-Cameroon petroleum project was approved by the World Bank in June 2000 after more than three years of intense discussions between oil multinationals, the Bank, Bank member governments and NGOs from the South and the North. In response to the grievances received, the World Bank proposed a framework to impose social and environmental rules on the multinationals, and build the capacity of Cameroonian and Chadian governments to enable them to manage project-related opportunities and ris...read more

International NGO Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said on Wednesday that signs of malnutrition had been observed among an estimated 41,000 refugees from Central African Republic (CAR) who have fled to Chad since November 2002.

The scope for corruption in the Chad-Cameroon pipeline will be evaluated jointly by l'Action Tchadienne pour l'Integrite (ATI), Transparency International's contact group in Chad, and Transparency International Cameroon (TIC), it was agreed at a meeting on 16 February 2003.

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