AA / Niamey / Salif Omar
Beninese President Patrice Talon confirmed his country’s decision to ban the shipment of Nigerien crude oil from the Beninese port of Sèmè.
“We told the Chinese that there cannot be boats in our waters to load Nigerien products, while Niger has banned all trade with Benin by closing its borders,” President Talon said in an interview. on Beninese public television on Wednesday.
Through a pipeline of nearly 2,000 kilometers, Niger began sending its crude oil to Benin to be sold on the international market by the Chinese company CNPC, the main shareholder.
90 thousand barrels will be transported every day from the Agadem site located in the Diffa region, in the south-east of Niger, near the Chadian border.
The first quantities of this oil arrived in Sèmè on April 21. In an interview with the Nigerien online newspaper “Aïr Infos”, Nigerien Transitional Prime Minister Ali Mahamane Lamine Zene indicated that it is “first up to the Chinese to settle the matter with the Beninese”, adding that Niger “sticks to the content of the agreement” that it signed with Benin for the flow of crude oil from the port of Sèmè.”
Since the coup d’état of July 26 against President Mohamed Bazoum, relations have been tense between Niger and Benin.
In addition to Benin’s closure of its borders with Niger, as part of sanctions imposed by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the new military authorities have criticized the regime of Patrice Talon to have authorized the deployment of foreign forces, notably French, on Beninese territory, with a view to aggression against Niger.
These authorities not only denounced the military agreement between Niger and Benin, but also deployed a major security system to block the main land route that connects the two countries.
Despite the lifting of ECOWAS sanctions against Niger last February and Benin’s decision to reopen its borders, the blockade is still maintained.
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