October 15, 2003	Wednesday	Sha'aban 18, 1424

LONDON: Chad joined Africa’s oil states this week when a spigot linked to a 1,040 kilometres pipeline was ceremonially opened, ushering in what optimists say will be a new era of wealth and development for the impoverished desert nation.

But pessimists declared a “day of mourning” on the grounds that the bonanza will mire Chad in the corruption and economic distortion which have plagued Africa’s other oil producers.

The pipeline, snaking from the southern Doba basin through desert and jungle to Cameroon’s offshore Kribi oil terminal for shipment across the Atlantic, is expected eventually to transport 225,000 barrels a day, yielding annual revenues of $80 million — increasing government revenue almost by half.

Several heads of state and 600 guests are due to attend the ceremony in Kome where President Idris Deby will open the spigot. President Deby said the oil should bless, not ruin, his country. “The coming oil income should not divert us from our usual economic activities. We must build a modern and working Chad together.”

Calling on a nation dogged by war since independence to make a new beginning, he added: “I know that in a country marked by 30 years of pain, violence, and the misdeeds of dictatorship, the restoration of peace is lengthy work.”

Oil companies backing the project are ExxonMobil, with 40 per cent, Malaysia’s Petronas, 35 per cent, and Chevron, 25 per cent. It took $3.7 billion to drill some 300 oil wells in the Doba basin.

After withholding approval the World Bank invested $200 million and, more crucially, its authority, in the project. Angola, Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria are showcases of how oil can breed kleptocratic elites and fuel corruption, conflict and poverty.

The World Bank has gambled on Chad bucking the trend after the government agreed to set up a revenue watchdog and passed a law stipulating that 80 per cent of the petro-dollars go towards health, education, agriculture and infrastructure.

Chad is ranked as one of the world’s most corrupt countries. Civic groups and even members of the watchdog predict the wealth will be taken by the elite, distort the economy and strengthen repression.

Bad omens, they say, are that Shell and Elf pulled out of the project without explanation in 1999, and the International Monetary Fund demanded early repayment of $7.6 million after the government allegedly gave erroneous information about spending.—Dawn/The Guardian News Service.