Niger: dispute with Benin, rebel attacks force junta to look for alternative oil export routes

Niger is considering routing its oil through neighboring Chad and Cameroon, instead of using a China-backed pipeline running from Niger to Benin’s coast, after protracted diplomatic disputes with the latter and a recent rebel attack that damaged the vital pipeline.
The China-backed pipeline, which the junta in Niamey hoped would turn Niger into an oil-exporting country, is being threatened by an internal security crisis and a diplomatic disagreement with neighboring Benin that led to the pipeline’s recent closure. Then the pipeline was also recently attacked by the local Patriotic Liberation Front rebel group, which claimed to have disabled a part of the pipeline, threatening more attacks on oil installations if the $400 million deal with China isn’t canceled. State media said the “malicious individuals” who had sabotaged part of the pipeline would be apprehended and prosecuted. Niger has kept its borders closed to goods from Benin, alleging its neighbor was hosting French forces that were training others to destabilize Niger, a claim Paris has denied.
“It is a completely messy situation and the only way for a resolution is if both administrations directly engage and resolve issues,” said Ryan Cummings, director of Africa-focused security consulting company Signal Risk. To find a solution out of this impasse, the Niger junta is considering reviving the option of routing the oil through neighboring Chad and Cameroon. But “the Chad option is not a simple solution, as it involves building a new (oil) pipeline,” says Seidik Abba, researcher and president of the International Centre for Studies and Reflections on the Sahel (CIRES). “We need to find an investor. Will the Chinese, who have already invested in the pipeline to Benin, invest again in the pipeline to Chad?” While the Chad pipeline is a possible option, Abba says there are many challenges that stand in the way of its implementation. “I don’t think all these questions have been answered yet.”