Poor of Cameroon Worse Off After Oil Pipeline Defaults on Promises
Reuters carries a reprot on the shattered hope of people promised prosperity after pipeline development. … grinding poverty in oil producers like Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea
show that petrodollars often do not translate into a better life for local
people — and Kribi’s experience shows oil can even complicate existing hard
lives.CAMEROON: November 18, 2005
KRIBI – Oil was meant to bring hope and money to this sleepy fishing town in
Cameroon, but Kribi’s residents say they can barely make ends meet.
The terminus for a 1,070-km (665-mile) pipeline bringing oil from landlocked
Chad to Cameroon, Kribi was full of expectations that wealth would trickle
down from the $4 billion venture — one of Africa’s biggest infrastructure
projects.
Instead, Kribi’s fishermen say a reef was destroyed during the construction
of an offshore facility three years ago and this has endangered their
livelihoods. Their complaints echo those heard from others living along the
Doba pipeline route.
“These people only cared about their pipeline and the money they will make
from it, they cared little about us,” said Agathe Mbedi, who sells fish at
Kribi’s market.
“They destroyed the rock that shielded the water in which fish used to
breed. They promised to replace it, but have done nothing. Our men are
earning less money, our children are out of school and we risk starving.”
The World Bank, which funded the venture, helped set up what it calls
unprecedented safeguards to manage earnings from the pipeline, which is
operated by a US-led consortium and promised revenues of $500 million for
Cameroon.
The venture, led by Exxon Mobil Corp., had been viewed by many rights
activists as a test case of whether petrodollars can fight poverty in Africa
instead of fuelling conflict and corruption.
But criticism has been growing. Local rights campaigners say the new wealth
is simply enriching foreign firms and political elites in one of the world’s
poorest regions.
“PICTURE OF DESPAIR”
Several countries along West Africa’s coastline are hoping to find oil and
cash in on world demand for alternative sources of crude to supplement the
volatile Middle East. The United States hopes a quarter of its oil imports
in a decade will come from West Africa, up from 14 percent now.
But grinding poverty in oil producers like Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea
show that petrodollars often do not translate into a better life for local
people — and Kribi’s experience shows oil can even complicate existing hard
lives.
Oscar Ada points to a 7-metre wide pool in his garden in the village of
Ekabita-Mendum near Yaounde.
“At first we didn’t have this lake here,” he said. “But (the Cameroon Oil
Transportation Company) COTCO came here and constructed its pipeline and
left behind a mountain of soil that directs rain off into my yard.”
He says breeding mosquitoes prevent his family from sleeping at night and
the water has damaged his 50 cocoa trees.
Once luscious green, the brown-grey leaves are now withered. Dried or rotten
cocoa pods hang from some of them.
The pipeline began pumping oil in 2003. Production was averaging about
180,000 barrels of crude per day by mid-2005, according to the project’s Web
site.
Cameroonian environmental and rights organisations say they have documented
about 400 cases where people have been affected by the project but have not
been adequately compensated.
Amnesty International has said the pipeline is side-stepping human rights
safeguards for local inhabitants.
Celestine Mbouma’s husband’s cocoa plantation was damaged when the pipeline
was built, cutting production from 20 bags to just three per year. Mbouma, a
mother of 12, now fears she will no longer be able to pay for her children
to go to school.
“I was very determined to do everything to ensure that my children get a
good education … But … now, I don’t know whether they will have to
abandon school … Please, tell those people to do something for us or we
will all die,” she said.
In Mbouma’s village, a water source that was destroyed during the
construction has yet to be replaced. Residents say the water is contaminated
and people have fallen ill, while children trek 8 km (5 miles) to get fresh
supplies.
“People have paid a hefty price for having the pipeline pass near their
homes and fields,” said Korinna Horta, a senior environmental economist at
the US non governmental organisation Environmental Defense.
“What I have seen is a picture of despair and profound injustice felt by
local people.”
WANTING COMPENSATION
Bissabidang, a 69-year old farmer from the Makoure region in southern
Cameroon, says he received just 350,000 CFA francs ($630) for his felled
ebony trees — valued by local forestry officials at up to 8.5 million CFA
($15,000) for their timber.
“Because of this derisory compensation, my family has been impoverished by
this pipeline project for many years to come.”
COTCO has promised compensation for Kribi’s destroyed reef but fishermen at
Bwambe beach say only 70 nets were provided for 2,000 fishermen. They say
they have to go further out now and their small canoes and nets cannot
withstand the rough waves.
In Chad, the government has said it plans to change a law meant to safeguard
oil profits for future generations, despite objections from the World Bank
which has threatened to withdraw from the investment and halt lending to
Chad.
Samuel Nguifoo, head of Cameroon’s Centre for Environment and Development,
said the pipeline had already proved a failure.
“Beyond the attendant credit and self-satisfaction, the Chad-Cameroon
pipeline project has brought about more tears than smiles,” he said.
Story by Tansa Musa
Tags: Poverty Analysis