Chad angry at World Bank over oil - Chad in 'state of war' with Sudan - Chad and its links to crisis in Sudan's Darfur

Some days my imagination works overtime wondering about the possibility of security forces diplomatically (read covertly) intervening in Darfur via Chad using international community clout, Chadian personnel and Sudanese refugees. This is one of those days. It's a recurrent thought whenever Chad and other countries neighbouring Sudan hit the headlines.

A curious story has been developing over the past few months re a World Bank loan to Chad of more than $39m (23m pounds) to build a pipeline with an estimated total cost of almost $4bn. The loan was on condition that Chad's churches, trade unions and non-governmental organisations monitored how oil revenues were spent. This was meant to guarantee that oil money was used to help reduce poverty in Chad.

Today, the BBC reports on Chad's angry reaction to warnings from the World Bank, after its parliament voted to relax controls on the use of its oil revenues. The Chadian government has accused the World Bank of acting like a coloniser.

The new laws introduced by Chad's parliament would give its country more control over the money.

Note, Chad's oil pipeline is barely two years old.

Further reading:
Dec 24, 2005 Sudan Watch: Chad in 'state of war' with Sudan
Dec 21, 2005 Sudan Watch: Chad and its links to crisis in Sudan's Darfur