Chad recalls ambassador to Cameroon for consultation

Chad has decided to recall its ambassador to Cameroon, according to Gali Ngothe Gatta, Chad’s secretary-general of the presidency.

The recall follows “persistent disputes” between the two countries relating to the acquisition of the assets of two oil companies that were formerly operating in Chad, including Esso Chad, a former subsidiary of American hydrocarbon company ExxonMobil, and Malaysia’s state oil company Petronas, Gatta said in a statement released Thursday night.

The decision is part of a showdown that began in late 2022 when ExxonMobil decided to leave the country and sold its assets to British oil company Savannah Energy, but Chadian authorities objected to the deal because it did not have “prior state approval” and decided to nationalize the assets, local media reported.

He said Chad learned on Thursday “through the press” that the signing of an agreement providing for the sale by a subsidiary of Savannah Energy of 10 percent of the share capital of the Cameroon Oil Transportation Company (COTCO), “in contradiction with the conventions and the status of COTCO,” to the National Hydrocarbons Corporation (SNH) of Cameroon.

Gatta said several Cameroonian personalities and other African countries “who continued to interfere with Chadian officials” supported Savannah Energy from the start.

Chad had also decided to buy Petronas assets after the company decided it was selling down the assets, but for “more than a month,” Cameroon has not responded to the Chadian letters requesting its non-objection of the deal as required by member countries of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa which includes the two countries, Gatta said.

“Chad is forced to defend its interests and its respectability, and denounce the repeated actions of Cameroon and its representatives who undermine the relations between the two countries,” Gatta said.

Cameroon has not officially reacted to Chad’s decision. Enditem