President Deby officially inaugurates oil project

Four African heads of states on Friday attended the symbolic inauguration, by Chadian President Idriss Deby, of the 1,070-km oil pipeline linking Chad and its southern neighbour Cameroon, in southern Chad's Doba Basin. Cameroon and Chad, two of the world's poorest countries, began to sell oil on 3 October, with a first shipment of 950,000 barrels of crude from their joint pipeline. The oil project is expected to generate an annual income of US $80 million for Chad and $20 million for Cameroon over the next 25 years, according to the World Bank. The World Bank's Country Director in Chad Ali Khadir said in a statement that the Bank's involvement was to ensure that Chad's oil money was used for the well being of all Chadians and to ensure that its "rigorous safeguard policies" were observed to allay concerns over environmental and social responsibilities. "The environmental management plan is among the most comprehensive and most meticulous ever for this type of project," Khadir said. Human rights groups and environmentalists had raised an alarm over the potential for misappropriation of funds, saying should that happen then the poor may not benefit from the oil money. They also warned of possible environmental degradation. Khadir however said that Chad had set up institutional arrangements for transparent accounting and accountable use of oil revenues. "Oil money will be put in an escrow account subject to disclosure and audit, meaning that everyone will know what the country received in revenues," he said. "Of the money that comes in, part will go immediately to service debts to the World Bank and the European Investment Bank. The remainder is for Chadians." President Deby promised that that the oil wealth would be used responsibly. Friday's inauguration was attended by President Denis Sassou Nguesso of Republic of Congo, Omar el-Bashir of Sudan, Mamadou Tandja of Niger and Francois Bozize of Central African Republic. Meanwhile on the fringes of the celebrations, five non-governmental organisations (NGOs) had declared Friday a national day of mourning for those who lost their lives recently in what they termed "the deteriorating security" in the country. In a statement on Thursday, the NGOs said that for months, security had deteriorated in Chad. They cited cases of policing of rights activists, issuance of death threats, kidnap and murder as pointers to this effect. On the 23 September, a lawyer, Jacqueline Moudeina organised a march by women calling for the extradition of former President Hissene Habre who is currently exiled in Senegal, to Belgium to face trial. However her house was surrounded by military men at night. Three days later one of the women lawyers received death threats from military men. In the same week, the NGOs added, the chairman of the board of directors for the Chad Petroleum Company was assassinated infront of the foreign affairs building in the capital N'Djamena. The head of the department of ophthalmology at the N'Djamena's general hospital was also abducted. "Our organisations condemn strongly the attacks and call on authorities to guarantee people's security according to Article 9 of the international pact on the civil and political rights," the statement said.