“On the night of June 16, the Patriotic Liberation Front (FPL) carried out its threat by knocking out a major section of the pipeline as a first warning to the Niamey junta” : here is what we can read in the press release published by the Patriotic Liberation Front on the internet, which also states that “oil will not flow without social justice”.
“The selective and ostracizing diplomacy that Niger has adopted does not help ease tensions” (Paul Amegakpo)
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The Patriotic Liberation Front, the FPL, threatens to paralyze “all oil installations“ from Niger if “constitutional legality“ is not restored in Niger – which implies, according to him, the release of the deposed president, still imprisoned, Mohamed Bazoum.
Paul Amegakpo, president of the Tamberma Institute for Governance, recalls that the exploitation of Nigerien oil is jeopardized by the diplomatic crisis between Benin and Niger, but also by the threats of sabotage of the pipeline, as this first attack seems to confirm.
The black gold rush
“The selective and ostracizing diplomacy that Niger hasadopted since the coup d’état of July 2023, does not make it possible to ease tensions and find a negotiated solution to the crisis surrounding oil exploitation which involves all stakeholders“, confides the expert to Deutsche Welle.
“It also does not allow us to put the superior interests of the Nigerien nation forward, instead of taking a position for a geostrategic confrontation in which Niger would naturally lose.“, continues the latter.
During the inauguration of the Agadem oil pipeline at the end of 2023, the Prime Minister, Ali Mahamane Lamine Zeine, presented this infrastructure as a pillar supporting the “sovereignty and development of the country on the basis of equitable sharing for the populations”.
Who benefits from oil?
However, it is difficult to hide the recent tensions surrounding the export of Nigerien oil. In this case, what can be done to calm the situation and ensure that this resource can benefit the country’s economy?
For geopolitical analyst Boubakar Lalo, Niger’s economy absolutely needs to export its oil. “We must take this issue very seriously. And we can only calm the situation through negotiation.”
“The negotiation implies that there can be a social contract for sharing revenue. That this contract is transparent, that it is fair and that finally, from 20,000 tons of oil we arrive at 110,000 tons and that the Nigerien people enjoy the fruits of this wealth”, adds the analyst.
This Monday (June 17), the Beninese justice system sentenced three Nigerien nationals to 18 months in prison. They were arrested with two other people last week at the port of Sèmè-Kpodji.
They were convicted for “usurpation of titles and use of falsified computer data”. Following this conviction, the Nigerien military regime decided to interrupt the transportation of oil through the pipeline.
