1/13/06

If you've followed the news recently, you may have heard about a new Chadian government military initiative- it's rearming, locking, loading, taking aim, and firing.

At it's own foot.

Chad has declared war on the World Bank, just one more reason why it's hard to envision any positive change here.

This is the situation; when oil was discovered in the southeast of the country a few years ago, the experts decided that the best way to get the billion-plus barrels of crude to the world was via an underground pipeline ending at the Cameroonian port of Kribi, more than 600km southwest. They also realized that a country which is incapable of providing anything resembling reliable electricity in the capital and paving more than two roads probably didn't have it together enough to create a 600km oil superhighway.

Enter the World Bank- they agreed to finance and build the pipeline on one condition, that the revenues flowing from the project would be spent wisely, and not pissed away like the vast majority of the money produced here. This would be done by creating a trust fund of sorts for Chad's oil revenues, with a guaranteed 10% set aside for 'future generations.' The money would be managed by a committee of Chadians and foreigners, hopefully ensuring that it'd be spent on roads and hospitals, as opposed to RPG's and Hummer H2's. So, sounds like a great system, right? The oil began flowing in mid-2004, and for awhile it really seemed like things were moving in the right direction- I remember the US ambassador speaking with us the day after we arrived that September, and explaining just how revolutionary this oil-management scheme was. There was a real potential to make Chad the shining example, after debacles in Nigeria, Gabon, Angola, and other oil producers across the continent.

Well, it was a nice idea, at least.

The Chadian president just signed a law passed by his rubber-stamp National Assembly to cancel the trust-fund provision of the agreement, and divert the 10% of 'future generation' revenues to the present, ostensibly to solve the financial crises which has led to yet another teacher's strike, among other problems. Many of my colleagues haven't been paid in three, four, five months, so it seems reasonable on the surface, right? The problem is that Chad has effectively declared war on Sudan as well, labeling it the 'Enemy of the People' last week, and between them on the mounting rebellion in the east (formerly the SCUD, now known as the FUC- I swear I'm not making this up). Given this, there's virtually no chance the money will be used for teacher's salaries or development, and every chance it'll buy weapons or a new villa in France to flee to when the coup happens. I realize how cynical that sounds, but unfortunately, that's the reality. This country is run by a desert-warlord turned kleptocrat, who makes all the right noises about democracy, but in truth, isn't fooling anyone.

So, in a move which shouldn't come as any great surprise, the World Bank cut Chad off. They declared the country to be in 'breach of contract,' and A) froze the disbursement of about $35 million that was on its way to N'Djamena, B) cancelled a further almost $150 million that was due to come in, and C) called in all of Chad's current debts, to be paid immediately. In response, the Chadian government called this 'shocking,' and demanded that the money be reinstated, which leads me to a question, and an observation.

The question, is why? Why should the Chadian government possibly be 'shocked' that the World Bank actually did what it'd been threatening, should the law be passed. I think part of it might be a larger version of the reality I see here in Gounou-Gaya. Marc and Valaddi threaten to beat their kids constantly, but actually do it, on average, "only" once or twice a day, making it a surprise when it actually happens. Ertchey was blown away by the idea that I would find someone else to haul water for me if he continued to show up late, drunk, or not at all, even though that's exactly what I said I would do. It seems that people here don't really believe that there are consequences for their actions, and are taken aback when they actually happen. By demanding this money be given to them, it shows just how far in denial they really are- do they really think if they complain loud enough it'll excuse the fact that they're the ones who fucked up?

Perhaps some of you, the more anti-globalization types, are saying, "look at the World Bank, those neo-colonialist bastards, screwing over a poor, defenseless African nation." Stop it. Chad brought this upon itself, and has only itself to blame- all it had to do was keep its part of the bargain, and ensure that the money wouldn't be bouffed yet again in this, the most corrupt of countries. I know this sounds harsh, but as the cliché goes, the truth hurts. One of the new PCV's, Brian, summarized the situation perfectly.

"If I have a credit card at a bank which has a credit limit, I run up huge charges, and suddenly decide that I don't agree with the contract and refuse to pay, why should I be surprised when the bank takes away my credit?" He asked.

Why indeed?

The observation is this- the Chadian government can demand all it wants, but it's not going to change a thing. Do you really think Paul Wolfowitz, the president of the World Bank is going to care? His previous day job was deputy US Defense Secretary, one of the main architects of the US invasion of Iraq- President Idriss Deby would be lucky to get so much as a phone call informing him of the bank's decision. Incidentally, he has- Wolfowitz tried to contact the Chadian president five times last week before freezing the money, but each time Deby refused to speak with him. Seriously, who does this guy think he is? Has he forgotten that he runs probably the least-developed country on the planet, and he's acting like a bratty 14-year old to the head of the one organization actually willing to invest in a place like this. If you're the president of Chad, this is the wrong guy to be pissing off.

What's interesting about this is the level of frustration that people here who know what's going on have with the government. Talking with Marc, Janvier, my landlord, the director of the theological seminary, for example, every one of them feels like Chad is the one screwing up, and it's them, the ones at or near the bottom of the ladder that'll get hurt the most by the consequences. The problem is that they have know way to do anything about it- in a fake democracy, dissent is tolerated to a point, but only because it's clear that it won't lead to anything. For the moment, at least, the drilling continues at Doba, where the oil is pumped out, but also in N'Djamena, where the government plows its head ever-deeper into the sand.

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