Diplomatic Crisis Erupts Between Cameroon And Chad

In an unprecedented move between the two countries, Chad has called home its Ambassador to Cameroon

A diplomatic crisis has erupted between two neighbouring and supposedly sisterly countries in the Central African Sub-region, Cameroon and Chad. In an unprecedented move between the two neighbouring countries, Chad has recalled its Ambassador to Cameroon, HE Djjda Moussa Outman. This comes a few weeks after the CEMAC Heads of States Summit held in Yaounde, Cameroon, at which member States pledged to reinforce inter-state cooperation.

The Presidency of Chad yesterday, Thursday, April 20, 2023, issued a communiqué which among other things, gave Chad’s own side of the story. From what I have been able to gather from different sources, the issue is linked to the Chad-Cameroon Pipeline Project. The pipeline was constructed by COTCO, an affiliate of the American giant oil company, Exxon Mobil. Due to Chad being a landlocked country, an agreement was reached that oil from the oil fields in Chad should be exported through Kribi (Port) in Cameroon. So, a long pipeline was constructed from Chad to Kribi in Cameroon. Exxon Mobil footed the bill of the huge project.

The three major shareholders of the Chad-Cameroon Pipeline Project became Chad, Exxon Mobil, and Cameroon. Chad is the country from which the oil comes, Exxon Mobil funded the project and managed it, and Cameroon hosts a longer part of the pipeline through which the oil is exported. All had been going relatively well between the three partners until Exxon Mobil decided (for unknown reasons) to pull out of the project and sell its share to another petroleum company.

However, Exxon Mobil’s decision to withdraw from the business and sell its shares to another oil company would normally not have been a problem. It happens like that in businesses across the world. But the problem arose because the Chadian Government opposed Exxon Mobil’s choice to sell its share to Savannah Energy, which the Government does not consider a giant like Exxon in the petroleum sector. The Chadian Government protested that Savannah Energy is a lightweight and is little known in the petroleum sector globally. The Chadian Government insisted that Exxon Mobil should sell its share to another giant in the sector. The Government even hinted that Chad could buy the share rather than let it go to a company like Savannah Energy.

To Chad’s surprise, it was the Cameroon Government that came lobbying for Savannah Energy. It is reported that Franck Emmanuel Biya first flew to Djamena to try to lobby the Chadian leader to accept Savannah Energy. This raised strong suspicion that Franck had an interest in the company or was a shareholder in a subsidiary of Savannah Energy known as Smil, created by Savannah Energy to run the Chad-Cameroon pipeline project.

Meanwhile, some senior Cameroon Government officials also reportedly travelled to Chad to lobby the Chadian authorities to accept Savannah Energy as the replacement of Exxon Mobil. But the Chadian Government would not yield. Instead, the Chadian authorities felt embarrassed that instead of supporting Chad in the dispute between Chad and Exxon Mobil, Cameroonian authorities were lobbying in favour of Savannah Energy.

Things came to a head on Wednesday, April 19, 2023, when Cameroon’s National Hydrocarbon Company (SNH) signed a deal with Savannah Energy for SNH to acquire a 10% share in Smil, the new company Savannah Energy created to run the Chad-Cameroon Pipeline Project. The ceremony took place in Yaounde, with the Administrator/General Manager of SNH, Adolphe Moudiki, signing for the National Hydrocarbon Company, and the Chief Executive Officer of Savannah Energy, Andrew Knott, signing for his company.

The Chadian Government considered this a treachery and a slap on the face by Cameroon, a supposed close sister. The Chadian Government wasted no time to react. The very next day (Thursday, April 20) after the controversial signing ceremony in Yaounde, the Chadian Presidency issued a communiqué, which was read over State TV. The Government recalled the country’s Ambassador to Cameroon. This is serious.

From all indications, the Cameroon Government could not have gone to this extent to cause a diplomatic crisis with Chad because of SNH’s acquisition of a 10% share in Savannah Energy’s Smil company. It is very likely, as is highly suspected, that the controversial involvement of the Cameroon Government in this Savannah Energy issue, to the point of lobbying an unwilling Chad to accept the company as a partner, has been to protect the private interest of some Cameroonians in the business.

This diplomatic crisis has come to once more raise the question as to whether President Biya is still in control in Cameroon. From all indications, he doesn’t seem to be in control.