Chad-Cameroon, the failure article published by "Il Manifesto"
Another project, the son of the doctrine developed "made in Washington," is definitely failed. Last September the World Bank withdrew dall'oleodotto Chad-Cameroon, which is touted for years as an effective solution to the two countries out of poverty in Africa.
The pipeline, which came into operation in 2003 and managed by a consortium of multinational oil companies led by U.S. giant Exxon Mobil, linking three hundred oil wells in southern Chad to the Cameroonian port of Kribi, along a route of 1,070 kilometers through the rainforest. The government of Chad, the holder of mining rights of 170,000 barrels of oil a day, would have to invest the proceeds in development programs and poverty reduction. The Chad-Cameroon project was in fact one of the rare cases where years of negotiations, controversy and public protests in both countries efricani and by international environmental networks had led to public consultation and establish a mechanism that forced Chad to reinvest some of the benefits Oil in social development. And yet, as they had documented group of local and international civil society, the dictatorship of Idriss Deby, pledged to crush the rebel groups, rather than continuing to invest in weapons and other more or less legal activities for the benefit of corrupt political elite . The gesture of
World Bank was largely symbolic since Chad has repaid its outstanding debt in advance, finally freeing herself from the obligation to redistribute economic resources among the population. But give the club petrodittatori Chad also helped the European Union. The pipeline, which cost $ 3.5 billion has been supported by various bilateral and multilateral financial institutions, among which stands out as the European Investment Bank. The financial arm of the EU participated in the transaction with a loan of nearly € 60 million, although it was clear from the outset as in Chad's oil interests were the catalyst for enormous conflict between north and south of the country for control of areas for future extraction.
In the days before the decision of the World Bank, the army has raged in the region of Doba and Moundou, committing massacres, torture and extrajudicial killings against civilians. The arrival of oil has exacerbated conflicts between ethnic groups, and between traditional farmers and ranchers. The lack of dissemination of information and military presence in the few initiatives have in fact prevented from consulting with local communities the opportunity to put forward their requests and comments. The environmental risk is high: the dense network of wells planned threatens the water table below and the opening of the roads needed to build the pipeline has already caused further deforestation, in this area of \u200b\u200bcentral Africa where every year are killed 2,000 square kilometers of forest. Since the plant is operating, moreover, was not carried out any monitoring. The coalition of NGOs Counter Balance has asked the European Investment Bank to withdraw from the transaction and establish an independent commission which would identify what went wrong in the process of assessment and approval of the project, and avoid in the future to fund projects such scandalous with the guarantee of European taxpayers. But the bank at the time silent, taking refuge behind the need to consult with other donors.
Catherine Amick 
