NEW YORK APRIL 24, 2006 Upriver from Timbuctoo, in the cash-poor, music-rich Saharan nation of Mali, the U.S. Treasury secured a construction-moratorium on the controversial Talo Dam.

          That was in 2001. Now Mali's president is pressing ahead and is building the dam. Starvation and the forced relocation of at least 20,000 looms

          Completion of the Talo Dam threatens the third largest wetland in the world. It is known formally as the Inland Delta of the Niger River, locally as the Bourgou. The wetland sustains [seven] different ethnic groups including rice-farmers, fishermen, and "African cowboys" that herd hundreds of thousands of head of cattle.

          Three independent technical reports condemn construction of the dam.

          Concern by a U.S. non-profit prompted the U.S. Treasury to issue the construction-moratorium.

          The non-profit, The Djenne Initiative, is named for the town whose magnificent adobe architecture led UNESCO to designate it a World Heritage Site. Djenné is the gateway and unofficial capital of the Bourgou. Back in 1994, an earlier scandal at the African Development Bank prompted the U.S. to lead a total of 18 donor nations to withold their biennial contributions to the Bank.

          Now, the Djenné Initiative, speaking for thousands of downstreamers who face starvation, is seeking to have the U.S. Treasury withold funds again--this time to suspend dam construction until an investigation, and a proper environmental review, so far avoided, are prepared.