The World Bank wants profits spent on long-term poverty alleviation

The law reduces the proportion of the profits from a pipeline earmarked to be spent on fighting long-term poverty.

The World Bank agreed to finance 4% of the $4bn oil project on condition these profits went towards development.

Mr Deby has denounced last week's move by the bank as foreign pressure and an attack on Chad's sovereignty.

He says his government needs some of the oil money now to finance improvements in health and education.

'Our right'

The law abolishes what was known as the "future generations fund", which had kept 10% of the country's oil revenues for use in tackling poverty in Chad.

It is our right, the oil revenue in its entirety is for Chadian people Foreign Minister Ahmat Allami

"The oil revenue needs to be used for the welfare of our youth instead of being put aside for future generations as the World Bank wants us to do," Chad's Foreign Minister Ahmat Allami told the BBC's French service.

He said the government wants to use the $36m (�21m) held in the fund to deal with some of the country's more immediate financial problems.

""It is our right, the oil revenue in its entirety is for Chadian people. Our plan for future generations is to take care first of the current generation," Mr Allami said.

The World Bank had lent Chad more than $39m (�23m) for the Chad-Cameroon pipeline on condition that non-government groups checked its use of oil revenues.

The private sector arm of the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation, also lent another $100m and mobilised a further $300m for the 1,000km pipeline.

Bank president Paul Wolfowitz has accused Chad's government of acting "unilaterally" after the law which Mr Deby approved was passed by parliament two weeks ago.

But the government has accused the organisation of acting like a coloniser and of using the country's people as guinea pigs to test different types of management.