Chad

Nadjikimo Bénoudjita, publisher of the weekly Notre Temps, and Mbainaye Bétoubam, the paper's deputy editor-in-chief, were sentenced to six months' imprisonment and fined two million CFA francs ($3,300) in damages and interest on 6 February 2003.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has hailed the waiver of ex-President Hissene Habre's immunity by the Chadian government, saying it would pave the way for his prosecution in Belgium. It also opens the way for his indictment and extradition from Senegal where he lives in exile, HRW said in a news release.

The government of Chad recognises health and nutrition as major influences on children’s educational success. But before planning school health services, they need to know the extent of health problems among Chad’s schoolchildren. Assisted by researchers from the Partnership for Child Development at Imperial College London, they conducted the first nationwide health survey of school-age children.

The Chadian Ministry of Information reported last Friday that rebels had attacked an airport in the north, killing four soldiers and destroying two attack helicopters and a bomber.

Africa's largest development project, a 650-mile, £2.8bn oil pipeline between Chad and Cameroon, is being criticised for damaging the interests of the poor - the people it was supposed to help. Embarrassed World Bank officials have already admitted that the notoriously corrupt Chad government has spent the first £10m of grant money it received from the consortium on arms for its security forces rather than on the educational and development projects for which the money was intended.

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