According to information received by OMCT, an assembly of approximately 100 women met peacefully in front of the French embassy, in the early morning of June 11th 2001, with the intention to hand over a letter of protest regarding the “complicity of France in the electoral hold-up of May 20th 2001” to the French
Ambassador. It is reported that the police forces brutally put a halt to the assembly by throwing grenades at the women. Among the 14 injured, 4 are allegedly seriously hurt.

The World Bank’s ability to ensure social and environmental safeguards in the $3.7 billion Chad-Cameroon oil pipeline project is threatened because of political unrest in Chad, according to two Chadian human rights organizations. The two groups, the Chadian Association for the Promotion and Defence of Human Rights, and the Environmental Defense, said that World Bank’s promise of equitable development and environmental safeguards for Africa’s largest infrastructure project, co-financed by the World Bank, is threatened because of mounting political tension in the region.