Special Report: Chad cuts off diplomatic ties with Sudan

    YAOUNDE, April 15 (Xinhua) -- The Chadian government issued a statement Saturday, threatening to stop oil production unless the World Bank unfrozen its oil revenues in a London escrow account.

    According to reports reaching here from Chad's capital of N'Djamena, the decision was made after a meeting between President Idriss Deby and his Cabinet ministers.

    Chad signed a oil development deal in 1988 with a consortium headed by U.S. oil major Exxon Mobil. The deal led to the construction of a 3.7 billion U.S. dollars pipeline that could carry inland Chad's oil to Cameroon's Kribi terminal.

    Under the deal, Chad, which produces 160,000-170,000 barrels of crude per day, gets a 12.5 percent royalty on each barrel exported by the consortium.

    The World Bank financed the construction of the oil pipeline on condition that Chad adopted a oil law to allocate most of its oil revenues to alleviate poverty.

    However, Deby signed a decree in January amending the World Bank-supported oil law, reducing funds to help the poor.

    As a result, the World Bank suspended all loans to Chad and froze a London-based escrow account that collected revenues from the pipeline.

    Several rounds of talks between Chad and the World Bank have been held but the negotiations got nowhere. Enditem