I am occasionally amazed by well meaning advocates for various causes who appear “shocked” at the conduct of agencies, in this case the World Bank, when the agencies’ best laid plans go south. In this case, the “I Didn’t See the Freight Train Coming” Award goes to the Environmental Defense Fund, the Chadian Association for Human Rights (ATPDH), the Centre for Environment and Development (CED) and Network to Fight against Hunger (RELUFA).
In an article in today’s Reuters Africa, it was reported that “[t]he Chad to Cameroon oil pipeline, abandoned last week by the World Bank, failed to benefit the poor in those nations and created a new “petro-dictatorship” in Africa, anti-poverty campaigners said on Wednesday.” The article goes on to say, “[a] coalition of human rights and environmental groups accused the World Bank of “throwing in the sponge” by withdrawing from the $4 billion production pipeline operated by U.S. major Exxon Mobil Corp.”
What a surprise.
The World Bank took a risky step in providing funding for the pipeline 10 years ago. The decision has been plagued by problems since then, primarily focused on the government’s failure to live up to its end of the bargain by not setting aside the proceeds from the sale of oil for its citizens. As noted in our country report on Chad, “[w]ith rebellion growing, Déby looked to oil revenues as a way of bolstering his defenses. Robert Collins, an expert in African history and professor emeritus at the University of Santa Barbara, California, says even when the pipeline project was being hailed as a model for transparency, there were cynics who said: “That’s going to work until Déby wants to buy some guns.” In December 2005, Déby overhauled the Petroleum Revenue Management Law, doing away with the “future generations” fund, and doubling the portion of money that would go directly to the federal government to 30 percent. Another change to the law was the inclusion of security as one of the priority poverty reduction measures to allow more arms spending.”
While I will readily jump on the World Bank, it’s not they haven’t said, “I told you so.” If a scapegoat is what these NGOs are after, why not take a swing at Idriss Deby, the Chadian leader and, of course, Exxon.
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