‘Tug of war’ over radioactive freight in West Africa

A truck convoy carrying radioactive freight is the focus of a tug of war between a military junta in Niger, West Africa, and Orano, a French state-owned mining and nuclear services group, but viewed locally as the arm of the former colonial power.

A coup d’êtat saw the army take the helm in the landlocked country in 2023. The following year, it removed Orano’s operational control of the three main uranium mines it ran in the country, which were subsequently nationalized by decree.

Russian Buyer?

Orano, which has undertaken various arbitration procedures to try to overturn the decision, has warned that plans to truck more than 1,000 tonnes of yellowcake, a powdered concentrate of uranium, almost 700 miles from Niamey, Niger’s capital, to the port of Lomé, in Togo, on West Africa’s Atlantic coast, for on-forwarding by ship, do not comply with international standards for the transport of radioactive materials.

According to sources quoted by French newspaper Le Monde, the Nigerien authorities and Russian nuclear giant Rosatom have concluded an agreement for the acquisition of the yellowcake– at a price of $170 million, a transaction denied by both parties.

Transporting such a large quantity (of uranium) through an unsecured corridor, a reference to zones where jihadist groups are active, represents a grave risk of being intercepted, Orano underlined.

Le Monde has published satellite images of the convoy showing that it left Orano’s mine in Arlit, situated in a desert region of northern Niger, bound for Niamey Airport, where it arrived early last month, having taken an itinerary through villages where the local residents, positioned at the roadside, watched as it passed by.

Each truck carries two containers, bearing the symbol for radioactivity, typical of the transport of materials containing uranium. They are transported by the Nigerien company BM Trans, or by its subsidiary Oyama.

‘Plundered’ Resource

The head of the junta, General Abdourahamane Tiani, described the convoy's departure from Arlit as a ‘historic turning point’: the end of half a century of French control over a resource long described as ‘plundered’.

However, the transfer of the uranium to the Nigerien state control is in violation of a decision by the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), a Washington D.C.-based arbitration institution specializing in dispute resolution and conciliation between international investors and states.

This prohibits the authorities in Niger from selling the uranium or moving it until the dispute with Orano is settled.

According to Reuters, Orano could take further legal action, including criminal proceedings, against anyone involved in the operation.

More recent satellite images, dated last week, show that the convoy remains parked in a military zone at Niamey Airport.

Is this an indication that the junta is having doubts about the legality of the sale of the uranium and the safety of the convoy as it crosses potentially hostile territory? Only time will tell.

Certainly, this does not chime with General Tiani’s claim of "Niger's legitimate right to dispose of its natural riches, to sell them to whoever wants to buy them, under the rules of the market, in complete independence.”