Chad: Failed Oil Pact Casts Pall on Similar Projects

The World Bank's decision to suspend loans to Chad after the country said it would divert revenues from an oil project intended to alleviate poverty is a symbolic gesture that dodges meaningful action by the Bank in similar mining, oil and gas projects, watchdog groups say. Last week, the Washington-based public lender made good on threats to suspend 124 million dollars in loans to Chad, one of the world's poorest nations, after the government amended a law that controls the country's oil revenues, against the Bank's repeated advice.