It's widely agreed that in the past much of the aid and investment designed to help the poor in Africa has been wasted or stolen. But there's a project under way now that may change that.
In Chad, in central Africa, after years of civil war and failed development, a consortium of oil companies, the World Bank, and Chad's government have agreed on ways to try to guarantee that future oil revenues benefit Chad's more than 8 million people instead of enriching corrupt officials. Fred de Sam Lazaro reports.FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Chad is one of the poorest of poor nations. Per capita income is just $200 a year, and this vast, land-locked nation -- nearly twice the size of Texas -- has just 300 miles of paved road. But all that may be about to change.
Chad has oil, and that's attracted a consortium of companies led by Exxon Mobil, called Esso here. They're building a $3.7 billion pipeline that will carry crude 650 miles across neighboring Cameroon to the Atlantic.
ANDRE MEDOC (Exxon Mobil): Basically we hope, and of course Chad government administration and people hope, they're going to move from this project from basically the pre-industrial era to the 21st century.
DE SAM LAZARO: It's not the first time that natural resources have been discovered and exploited in Africa. But whether it's copper, diamonds, or oil, the newfound wealth has done little to improve life for the vast majority of people.
This time, everyone involved vowed it's going to be different: Exxon Mobil has brought in the World Bank as a moral guarantor. The bank, in turn, imposed conditions -- both on the oil company and on the government of Chad.GREGOR BINKERT (World Bank): The oil companies, of course, have learned from some of their public relations disasters in other countries -- in which they were somehow implicated or government officials were implicated. And it is a new way of thinking on their part.
DE SAM LAZARO: Binkert says for oil companies, the agreement is an insurance policy against criticism that they're concerned only about profits. So the World Bank required Exxon Mobil to sign on to an environmental protection plan. Chad's government had to pass a law spelling out specific areas where oil money will be spent.
MAHAMAT NASSER HASSANE: (Director of Petroleum, Chad Government): You know, in the law, we have defined some sectors that we call the priority sectors -- education sector, health sector, environment sector, drinkable water sector, and infrastructures. So we have to spend the money according to the priority sector, which has been defined clearly in the 1999 law.DE SAM LAZARO: Allocations will be made by a committee that will be drawn from all sections of society. And, to ensure that all transactions are aboveboard, oil revenues will go not to the government but to escrow accounts in Europe.
Former U.S. Ambassador to Chad Donald Norland supports the arrangement.
DONALD NORLAND (Former U.S. Ambassador to Chad): The agreement is historic in one major respect. It's an infringement on the sovereignty of a newly independent African country. Can you imagine, yourself, having a major account in the bank but being unable to get at that money? Someone else has to give you permission to get at your own money.
DE SAM LAZARO: Chad is seen as a model for other African countries. Many are crippled with poverty and disease and have few options but to allow foreigners in to look over their shoulder.
Chad's president, Idriss Deby, is a former warlord who rose to power 10 years ago. So far Deby has supported World Bank efforts to bring in democratic reforms. He is philosophical about the apparent concession of sovereignty.
The process is fraught with complication, and there's especially strong criticism of programs that compensate communities near the pipeline.
In a country where two out of three people can't read or write, many villagers complained that the school they were promised is behind schedule. They also pleaded for a well. Three of four Chadians lack access to safe drinking water.
MICHAEL DIDAMA (Editor, LE TEMPS; French translator): The government used the money to purchase arms. It could have used the money for many other things. We haven't got electricity, we don't have health services, we don't have schools.
Former Ambassador NORLAND: Deby regards this as his project -- that he desperately wants it to succeed. He wants this to be the Deby legacy.
