The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
President Yoweri Museveni started his two-day visit to Chad by touring their oil facilities on Sunday.
In N’Djamena for the swearing-in ceremony of President Idriss Deby to his fifth term in office, Museveni jumped on a helicopter to inspect the country’s oil refinery.
Over 15 heads of state are expected to attend today’s inauguration ceremony including Benin’s’ Patrice Talon, Burkina Faso’s Rock Mark Kabore, Ethiopia’s’ Hailemariam Desalegn, Rwanda’s Paul Kagame and Equatorial Guinea’s Theodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.
President Debby and his party the Patriotic Movement of Salvation won a 5th term in elections held in April 2016.
He was re-elected in a first round vote in April with 61.5 percent of ballots cast against 12.8 percent for his nearest rival Saleh Kebzabo, according to official results.
Chad is seen as a relatively stable country in volatile region with its troops involved in peacekeeping missions in the region.
To tour the oil refinery, Museveni was accompanied by Chad’s Minister for Petroleum, Mines and Energy, Djérassem Le Bémadjiel. They were joined by Ugandan engineers; Irene Batebe the Principal Petroleum Engineer in the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development (Petroleum Directorate) and Refinery Engineer Benjamin Ariho.
After the visit to the refinery, Museveni said Uganda is seeking to break away from the African slogan of “Producing what it does not consume and consuming what it does not produce” by exploiting its rich natural resources for its own people.
“I congratulate President Idriss Deby for his forsight of building this refinery. Some countries produce petroleum but don’t refine it. He has done the right thing, now Chad produces oil and consumes it. In Uganda, we have some oil wells and that is the route we are taking,” he said.
Chad became an oil-producing nation in 2003 with the completion of a $4bn pipeline linking its oilfields to terminals on the Atlantic coast.
