A tense border dispute between Niger and Benin seems to have been averted for now. For months, Benin had blocked a pipeline set to export crude oil from Niger. Over the years, Benin and Niger have enjoyed good relations, but that quickly changed after Niger's military coup last year. With both countries needing each other to accomplish trading, will they be able to find a solution?
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00:00 A tense standoff between Niger and Benin seems to have been averted for now.
00:05 The dispute centered around oil, trade and border security.
00:09 Niger is rich in natural resources.
00:12 To export its minerals, it relies on its neighbor, Benin.
00:15 While Benin also relies on its neighbor to transport goods.
00:19 But with a border dispute, Benin has not been able to transport goods through Niger, which
00:24 is making cost of living hard for its citizens.
00:27 "We have been living in the desert for a long time, we don't have any food.
00:33 We are not able to get anything from the desert.
00:38 We have no place to live.
00:40 We are not able to buy food.
00:42 We have no place to live.
00:45 We are not able to buy food."
00:47 Welcome to the flipside.
00:49 Over the years Benin and Niger have enjoyed good relations.
00:52 But that quickly changed after Niger's military coup last year.
00:57 Benin along with the West African regional bloc, ECOWAS, imposed sanctions on the Nigerian
01:01 military regime.
01:03 Although the sanctions were later eased in January this year, Niger refused to open its
01:08 land border for goods coming from Benin.
01:10 "Both sides are hurting each other.
01:13 Traders in Benin, they're pressuring the government to find a solution.
01:20 But in Niger itself, people feel very strong about Benin.
01:24 Because they were angry about the sanctions.
01:28 So as far as I can see, not much pressure from people in Niger on their government to
01:35 reopen the border."
01:37 Before the coup, almost all of Niger's imports, including food, cars, consumer goods, travelled
01:43 through Benin's port of Cotonou.
01:45 However, with the border standoff, trade between Niger and Benin has practically come to a
01:50 standstill, resulting in significant financial losses to both.
01:54 "From Niger's perspective, it doesn't really make sense to close the border to Benin because
01:59 they want to sell oil via Benin.
02:02 So it's hard to assume, you know, you close the land border for trucks but want to send
02:08 oil on the other side of the border.
02:10 So this, I mean, in a way, Niger is hurting itself."
02:14 Niger wants to use Benin's port to export crude oil to China under a 400 million US
02:20 dollar deal.
02:21 Benefits from this oil deal are especially crucial to the Niger junta, who want to use
02:25 the money to repay its debt to the West African Debt Management Agency.
02:30 But this crude oil deal also benefits Benin through transit duties and tax revenues per
02:36 quantity of Nigerian oil exported.
02:38 Fortunately, China helped to mediate and resolve the dispute, at least for now.
02:43 "If someone can solve it, it's China, because China has a direct interest."
02:49 As the saying goes, war is bad for business.
02:52 A trade war between Niger and Benin will only leave a huge gap on both economies.
02:58 With both sides standing firm on their positions, maybe an external partner such as China, who
03:03 is said to benefit from the oil deal, could be the bridging point for both.
03:08 And that is the flip side.
03:09 [BLANK_AUDIO]