CHADIAN President Idriss Deby and Cameroonian President Paul Biya have laid the foundation stone of the 1 070km Chad-Cameroon oil pipeline, which will transport 250 000 barrels of crude oil per day from the Doba basin of land locked Chad to Kribi for export by 2005. The development of the Doba oilfield, which is to include some 300 wells, is to cost over $3.1bn. The construction of the pipeline, which is to cut through one of the world’s last primary rainforests in East Cameroon, has been delayed by environmentalists and human rights groups. – Reuters