Chad became an oil-producing nation in 2003 with the completion of a $4bn pipeline linking its oilfields to terminals on the Atlantic coast. A largely semi-desert country, Chad is also rich in gold and uranium and some would say stands to benefit from its recently-acquired status as an oil-exporting state. Yet others contend that developments in Chad illustrate the problems when poor nations try to leverage oil and gas production within the confines of the global economic order.

Delphine Djiraibe studied in Congo Brazzaville, outside of Chad, during the late 1980s. She received the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award in 2004 and is involved in a courageous campaign to ensure that revenues from the Chad-Cameroon Oil & Pipeline Project are utilized to benefit the people of Chad rather than being used for the purchase of warfare or other military support. Djiraibe co-founded and served as President of the Chadian Association for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (ATPDDH). One of only two such organizations at the time in Chad, the ATPDDH was founded in response to the violence and widespread disregard for the human rights of the Chadian people surrounding the 1990 coup led by current Chadian President Idriss Deby.

Delphine’s talk will be followed by brief remarks from:

• Ian Gary, Oxfam America Senior Policy Advisor/Manager on Extractive Industries.
• Corinna Gilfillan, Head of the US Office for Global Witness.

Co-sponsors: Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Center, Global Information Network, and IPS projects Foreign Policy in Focus and Sustainable Energy & Economy Network.