Politics

Niger’s Prime Minister claims Benin’s oil export blockage breaches accords

Published

5 months ago

May 14, 2024

Niger’s Prime Minister, Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, has claimed that Benin’s suspension of Niger’s oil shipments, imposed in reaction to a border shutdown, breached bilateral trade agreements as well as those with Niger’s Chinese partners.

Niger’s Prime Minister Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine said on Saturday that Benin’s blockade of Niger’s oil exports, imposed in response to a border closure, violated trade agreements between the two countries and with Niger’s Chinese partners.

Speaking at a press conference in the capital Niamey, Zeine said Niger could not fully reopen its border with Benin for security reasons, in comments that escalate a dispute that saw Benin this week block supplies of Niger’s crude oil to ships in its port.

The blockade threatens Niger’s plan to begin crude exports under a $400 million deal with China National Petroleum Corp (CNPET.UL). This is significant because Niger plans to use the funds from the export deal to cover missed bond payments due to regional sanctions.

Zeine claimed that the embargo breached over a dozen agreements signed by Benin, Niger, and China about a recently launched, PetroChina-backed pipeline connecting Niger’s Agadem oil field to Benin’s port of Cotonou.

However, Benin has stated that it will only back down if Niger reopens its border to Benin-produced goods and normalizes relations. According to Zeine, one of the oil export treaties stated that Benin could not unilaterally amend or limit the agreements without the assent of the other parties.

“This means that the country agreed not to take any decision that would stop the flow of Niger’s crude oil to the international market. This is serious. This is a violation of an agreement,” he said at a press conference.

The relationship between the two countries has been strained since July 2023, when a coup in Niger prompted ECOWAS to impose tight sanctions for over six months. What comes next is unclear. Zeine stated that Niger will not cooperate with Benin’s desire to reopen its border fully.

“In Benin’s territory, there are bases where in some, terrorists are trained to come and destabilise our country. So, it is for simple security reasons that we decided to maintain the border closure,” Zeine said, without further detailing the allegations.

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Politics

Sudan’s RSF chief accuses Egypt of bombing troops

Published

23 hours ago

October 10, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

In a speech that was released on Wednesday, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, the leader of the Sudanese paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), accused Egypt of carrying out airstrikes on the group’s soldiers.

The army of the nation, which has just gotten the upper hand in the fight that has devastated the nation for nearly eighteen months, was also accused by him of receiving drones and training from Cairo.

Later, in a statement, the Egyptian foreign ministry refuted Hemedti’s claims that Egyptian aircraft was involved in the continuing conflict in Sudan.

“While Egypt denies those claims, it calls on the international community to ascertain the evidence that proves the truth of what the RSF militia leader said,” the foreign ministry added.

Egypt has joined Saudi Arabia and the United States’ efforts to resolve the situation, despite the perception that Egypt is close to the Sudanese army and its commander, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.

Earlier this year, Cairo played host to meetings between opposing political groupings. Hemedti said in his prerecorded video message that Egypt had attacked using American munitions.

“If the Americans were not in agreement these bombs would not reach Sudan,” he added.

In addition, he mentioned the presence of mercenaries from Tigray, Eritrea, Azerbaijan, and Ukraine in the nation and restated claims that Iranians fought with the army.

The army has recently advanced towards the southeast Sennar state and the capital Khartoum, Sudan; Hemedti said that his men were forced to retreat from the vital Jebel Moya region by purported Egyptian airstrikes.

The head of the RSF stated: “This war will not end in one or two, three, or four years,” seemingly shifting the tone from earlier remarks in favour of peace initiatives. We will soon exceed one million soldiers, as some have mentioned.

Since the conflict in Sudan broke out in April 2023, about 10 million people have been pushed from their homes, famine and widespread hunger have been brought on, and waves of violence motivated by ethnic differences have been mostly attributed to the RSF.

Politics

Rwandan foreign minister claims Congo refused M23 peace offer

Published

5 days ago

October 6, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Rwandan Foreign Minister, Olivier Nduhungirehe, has claimed that his Congolese colleague had refused to sign a pact to address the M23 rebel violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Since 2022, the Tutsi-led M23 has been fighting in the violence-torn east of central Africa, displacing over 1.7 million people.

Congo, the UN, and others accuse Rwanda of providing troops and ammunition to the group. Rwanda denies aiding M23 and accuses Congo of fighting alongside the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), which has attacked Tutsis in both countries.

Both nations took part in peace talks in late August to reduce the hostilities, which have exacerbated the humanitarian catastrophe in the area and occasionally stoked concerns about a wider war.

Nduhungirehe told Reuters that a strategy “for neutralising the FDLR and lifting Rwanda’s defence measures” had been agreed upon and signed by participants in the negotiations, including the head of military intelligence for the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

He made this statement on the fringes of a conference in France between leaders of French-speaking nations, saying that ministers were expected to sign this accord on September 14.

“We were ready to sign … but the Congolese minister refused. She first commented on the report and then later, after consultation, she came back. She told us she was opposed to adopting the report.”

According to Nduhungirehe, the plan called for Rwanda to ease its “defence measures” a few days after the activities against the FDLR, however, the Congolese minister objected to these not occurring at the same time.

An inquiry for comment was not immediately answered by a Congolese government representative.

Paul Kagame and Felix Tshisekedi, the leaders of Rwanda and the Congo, were present at the meeting in France. Though a three-way meeting was suggested by French President Emmanuel Macron, the two ultimately had separate private encounters with Macron.

“The situation is still too tense (for a three-way meeting),” Macron told reporters later on Saturday. It “calls for efforts on both sides,” he said calling on the two countries to reach an agreement.