A Benin court has handed 18-month suspended jail sentences to three Nigeriens amid escalating diplomatic tensions between Benin and Niger. The conflict stems from the arrest of five Nigeriens at Benin’s Atlantic port of Seme-Kpodji, which exports Niger’s oil. Benin initially accused them of accessing the port under false pretenses but the court reclassified the charges as “usurpation of title and use of falsified computer data” before sentencing them. The defendants, including Moumouni Hadiza Ibra, Deputy General Director of Wapco-Niger, denied the charges. Relations between the two countries have been strained since the coup that ousted Nigerien President Mohammed Bazoum last year that saw Benin close its border under regional sanctions. It has since reopened its side but Niger’s military rulers have refused to do the same for their side. Niger described the arrests as a kidnapping and closed the valves of its oil pipeline in response.
SOURCE: VOA NEWS
