Cotonou, Benin – Benin has prevented neighboring Niger from using its port to export its first crude oil, amid a raging border dispute between the two nations. President Patrice Talon’s government is demanding that landlocked Niger reopen its side of the border if it wants to use Benin’s ports.
Benin’s move puts at risk Niger’s plan to begin exporting oil, which was set to rise significantly to 110,000 barrels per day following the completion of a Chinese-built pipeline through Benin. The landlocked country has been producing about 20,000 barrels per day primarily for domestic consumption due to the lack of an export route.
President Talon accused Niger of treating its neighbor like an “enemy” and refusing to cooperate to restore ties. “If you want to load your oil in our waters, you must consider that Benin is not an enemy country and that [its] territory cannot be the subject of illicit trafficking or informal exchange,” he said on Wednesday. “If tomorrow the Nigerien authorities decide to collaborate with Benin in a formal manner, the boats will be loaded.”
The dispute is seen as undermining the project and affecting relations between two countries that were close trade partners before the coup in Niger. Herve Akinocho, the director of the Centre for Research and Opinion Polls in Benin, said the country would lose about $7m (£5.6m) daily from oil transit fees that Niger would have paid.
Akinocho told the BBC Newsday radio program that Benin was suffering bigger losses from Niger’s decision to keep the border shut, as most of Niger’s imports and exports passed through Benin before the coup, but are now happening through Togo. He added that Niger’s refusal to open the border was “really hitting the economy of Benin [including] the transport sector”.
Niger’s junta has not yet responded to President Talon’s comments. The sanctions by the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) were eased in February, but Niger refused to open its land border for goods coming from Benin.
