Despite vehement protests from enviros and human rights activists, the World Bank yesterday approved a $193 million loan for a 663-mile oil pipeline in Chad and Cameroon. Opponents of the project — which is expected to cost $3.7 billion total and is being spearheaded by ExxonMobil — say it would destroy sensitive rainforest, lead to oil spills, dislocate indigenous peoples, and line the pockets of corrupt African officials. Officials insist that safeguards have been put in place to make sure the project doesn’t harm the environment or fund oppressive governments in the two destitute African nations. Enviros participating in the protests against the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C., in April singled out the pipeline project as an example of the bank’s wrong-headed and destructive policies.
