By Enyichukwu Enemanna
The bilateral relations between Chad and its neighbouring Cameroon is on the verge of deteriorating, as Chad has withdrawn its envoy in Yaounde arising from dispute over the sale of Exxon Mobil’s assets in both countries to Savannah Energy.
Chad in a statement on Thursday said it decided to recall its ambassador due to “entrenched disagreements” over the business transaction.
“Consequently, Chad has decided recall its ambassador to Cameroon for consultation,” it added.
Exxon Mobil had in December closed the sale of its operations in Chad and Cameroon after a $407 million deal was sealed with oil and gas producer Savannah.
The Chadian government has however expressed dissatisfaction with the process, saying the final terms of the deal were different from what had been presented to it before the implementation.
Chad said in the statement on Thursday that it had reached out to Cameroon to raise concerns about what it called “unfriendly actions” by some Cameroon officials.
The landlocked Central African country says the actions of the Cameroonian officials are contrary to the interests of Chad in the board of the pipeline company, but did not get any response.
“Chad finds itself once again in the obligation to defend its interests and its respectability and denounces the repeated actions of Cameroon and its representatives which undermine, relations between the two countries,” the statement said.
Chad has fully nationalized the assets of the company on its side of the border, including Exxon’s share of the over 1,000 km (621 miles) Chad-Cameroon oil pipeline.
A Cameroon government spokesman, and the foreign ministry did not reply to requests for comments by Reuters.
Savannah Energy has said it will pursue its legal rights over Chad’s decision to nationalize Exxon’s assets it had acquired.
The company said on Wednesday that it had sold a 10% stake of the share capital of the Cameroon Oil Transportation Company which owns and operates the 903km Cameroon section of the Chad-Cameroon pipeline to Cameroon national oil company (SNH).
According to the deal, Cameroon’s SNH will pay a cash consideration of $44.9 million to Savannah Energy.
Chad said in its statement that it was not informed of this sale which was contrary to the status of the pipeline company.
