Central Africa Grapples with Prolonged Fuel Shortages

For months, Central Africa has been mired in a severe fuel crisis, hampering regional economic growth, disrupting local businesses, and driving up food prices, igniting social unrest. The acute shortages stem from surging demand, supply disruptions, and illegal trading, especially in conflict zones.

Major cities across Central Africa witness lengthy queues and prolonged waits for fuel, with stations frequently running dry for months. Cameroonian authorities partly attribute the crisis to stormy weather off the Atlantic, leading to cargo ships’ stranding at Togo’s regional port of Lome.

The Central African Republic, reliant on fuel supplies through Cameroon’s Douala seaport, faces disruptions. Humanitarian aid agencies in the country express concerns that the crisis might impede essential aid delivery, particularly in the midst of sectarian violence.

In Chad, the fuel crisis stirs social unrest, sparking protests in N’djamena and other towns like Bongor, Moundou, Faya-Largeau, and Abeche. Recent military intervention with tear gas aims to quell the demonstrations.

Chad’s military government has intercepted numerous containers of contraband fuel smuggled to the Sudanese border. Heightened illegal fuel trade, triggered by Sudan’s civil war, is exacerbating the crisis along the border.

Authorities in Chad call for an immediate halt to illegal fuel exports, stressing the dangers of storing highly flammable gasoline and diesel in homes to sell at inflated prices during the ongoing crisis.

The fuel shortage extends into Sudan, where civilians and fuel merchants flee the conflict, rushing to Chad’s porous border for supplies. Refugees and host communities in Chad’s Ouaddai province endure amplified poverty, facing exorbitant price hikes in essential commodities.

The bleak situation has prompted regional actions. Countries like Chad, Cameroon, and the Central African Republic have limited fuel sales to 20 liters per motorist in an attempt to balance supply and demand. Chad anticipates an improvement in its shortage with the reopening of a refinery in N’Djamena, albeit without specifying the timeline.

Cameroon asserts its efforts to meet the escalating fuel demands through increased imports, besides the liberalization of petroleum product imports. Despite these measures, the region remains on edge, hoping for a swift reversal of the crisis plaguing its socio-economic landscape.