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chad-cameroon pipeline fails local people

 The Chad-Cameroon pipeline has been opened by the Presidents of the two countries at a ceremony in Kribi, marking the official start of the exploitation of the oil by the Exxon Mobil, Chevron and Petronas multinational oil corporations. The pipeline, supported by the World Bank was presented as a model in terms of development and poverty alleviation, but reports from CED (the Centre for the Environment and Development/ FoE Cameroon) say the pipeline has in effect not been able to improve the living standards of the local populations.

Deficiencies in the project have been present at every stage, with many communities still awaiting compensation for losses. Workers were underpaid, wells along the pipeline were polluted leading to disease and environmental damage is still a risk as the oil spill response plan has not yet been put into practice. The Indigenous Peoples Plan, which should have improved the situation of the Bakola-Bagyeli pygmies remains unsatisfactory.

CED has called for more responsibility from project directors and recommends that lessons should be learnt before implementing similar projects elsewhere.

For more information see http://www.africa-environment.org/ced/ (in French)