Ouagadougou: Niger plans to use the Chad pipeline to export its crude oil to the international market in the face of misunderstandings with the Beninese authorities in the use of the pipeline passing through the Beninese port of Sémè, reports the Nigerien press agency.
The head of the Nigerien government, Ali Mahamane Lamine Zeine, raised, during the council of ministers on June 24, 2024, the possibility of considering ‘the resumption of trade to pass crude oil from Niger through Chad’, indicated the ‘ANP.
For the ANP, the Nigerien government has ‘decided to set up a committee to reactivate the work leading to the achievement of this objective’.
This position follows a mission dispatched on May 30 to Niger by Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, explains the same source.
On June 5, Benin arrested and tried for ‘usurpation of title and use of falsified computer data’ Nigerian state clerks on a mission to control oil shipments at the Beninese port terminal of Sèmè Kodji.
In response, Nigerien author
ities closed the flow valves for Nigerien crude oil to Benin. They also awarded the Sarauniya Mangou Medal of Sovereignty to its agents acquitted or suspended sentences by the Beninese justice system.
The day after Niger’s announcement to use Chad to export its oil, former presidents of Benin, Nicéphore Dieudonné Soglo and Thomas Boni Yayi, went to Niamey to discuss with the president of Niger, General Abdourahamane Tiani, the disputes between the two neighboring countries.
The border between the two countries is closed by the authorities in Niamey who cite security issues and who accuse Benin of maintaining terrorist bases, which has led to a surge in prices in Benin and exasperated the power in Cotonou.
After the fall of Bazoum, the Beninese authorities were in favor of militarily attacking Niger through ECOWAS forces in order to dislodge General Tiani and reinstate the deposed president to power.
Source: Burkina Information Agency