Africa

3, September 2025

Mutresor to open CFA18bn five-star Concord Hotel in Yaoundé ⁰

On the hillside of Olezoa in Yaoundé, the Concord International Hotel is taking shape, reshaping the skyline near Avenue Charles Atangana. Backed by the Mutual Fund of Treasury Staff (Mutresor), the five-star complex aims to redefine luxury hospitality in Cameroon’s capital.

The CFA18 billion ($29.6 million) investment was financed mainly through Mutresor’s own funds, supplemented by a bank loan, according to the Ministry of Finance. Construction is nearing completion, with every detail designed to meet international standards.

The facility will offer 119 rooms and suites, including 72 executive and 16 standard rooms, plus two presidential suites and two accessible rooms. Amenities include two restaurants, a snack bar, a panoramic terrace, a spa, an indoor pool, a night club, a casino, conference floors, and parking. Local artisans will supply art and décor to give the hotel a cultural touch.

A diversification strategy

Founded over a decade ago within the Ministry of Finance’s Treasury Directorate, Mutresor counts around 4,000 members including public servants, retirees, and contract staff. Already active in microfinance through Cremincam and owner of a commercial property in Yaoundé, the mutual is expanding its portfolio with the Concord project.

“The profitability of the Concord should increase our lending capacity and help finance health and retirement insurance products,” a Mutresor official said.

Competitive luxury market

Yaoundé’s high-end hospitality market is becoming increasingly competitive. Alongside established hotels like Hilton and Mont Fébé, new entrants are on the way: the 220-unit Radisson Serviced Apartment set for 2026, the 30-story Hôtel du Lac backed by Belgian firm IIDG, and a future Méridien. Investments in these projects range from CFA50 billion to CFA90 billion.

“Luxury hospitality is highly capital-intensive but also high risk,” noted a Douala-based consultant. “It takes more than a beautiful building. Clear marketing, agile management, and internationally trained staff are essential.”

To address these challenges, Mutresor hired Bekolo & Partners to conduct market studies, design the business plan, and lead staff recruitment.

The Concord illustrates a broader shift among public service mutuals in Cameroon. Once limited to member contributions and solidarity, these organizations are emerging as investment vehicles. The National Mutual of Tax Staff (Mundi) has also expanded into commercial real estate and hospitality.

This evolution positions mutuals as economic actors capable of creating wealth and strengthening their role in national development.

High stakes ahead

Venturing into luxury hospitality carries financial and operational risks for Mutresor, whose core mission remains mutual solidarity. Success will depend on governance, strong financial planning, and professional hotel management.

If the Concord succeeds, it could set a precedent for other African mutuals, showing that solidarity-based organizations can drive major investments while continuing to serve their members.

Source: Sbbc

1, September 2025

Douala Port is now the most congested on the West African Coast ⁰

The Douala port is now the most congested port on the West African coast, according to shipping-intelligence platform Gocomet. Vessel delays at the facility reach as long as nine days—two days longer than at Conakry in Guinea, Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire, or Lekki in Nigeria, where waiting times stand at about seven days.

The bottleneck comes at a port that handles between 75% and 85% of Cameroon’s trade, as well as imports for landlocked Chad and the Central African Republic. Authorities have offered no official explanation. However, data reviewed by the Ecofin Agency suggest that seasonal and logistical factors, starting with vessel navigation, are at play.

Ships calling at Douala must sail up the Wouri River, a route that depends on dredging operations and favourable tides. Heavy rains in Douala may also have complicated conditions, further slowing vessel movements in and out of the channel.

Another factor could be a seasonal surge in traffic. August marks the start of cocoa exports, and demand from Chad and the Central African Republic is also expected to rise. In such cases, the structural weaknesses of the port become more visible. The Port Authority of Douala has announced new investments, but these upgrades have yet to alleviate pressure on facilities that are already stretched to their limits.

Business news outlet Investir au Cameroun noted at the end of 2023 that the port authority planned to invest CFA 12 billion ($21.4 billion at the period’s exchange rate) in 2023 in acquiring eight-yard cranes. However, years of reliance on outdated equipment had created inefficiencies that could still be affecting operations in 2025. Operational inefficiency also extends to management and port users.

Douala’s southern neighbour, the Kribi port, offers a potential alternative with delays averaging just two days and a more effective administration. However, routing cargo through Kribi presents its own challenges, including weaker hinterland connections and higher logistics costs. Among 15 West African ports surveyed, a few post far lower delays, often less than a day. That includes Pointe-Noire in the Republic of Congo, Tema in Ghana, and Onne in Nigeria.

Port congestion across West Africa reflects a complex mix of aging infrastructure, surging cargo volumes, bureaucratic inefficiencies, corruption, tidal and environmental constraints, and global supply-chain pressures. These forces combine to create bottlenecks that prolong vessel turnaround and cargo handling.

Modernization programs and new port developments bring some hope, yet chronic underinvestment and governance shortcomings continue to hold back progress. Easing congestion will require coordinated investments in complex infrastructure, digital systems, and regional logistics to meet West Africa’s rising trade demands.

Source: ecofinagency

26, August 2025

Southern Cameroons minerals: Elias Pungong, Colin Mukete at daggers-drawn positions ⁰

The Nkout (2.7 billion tons) and Ntem (98 million tons) iron ore deposits in southern Cameroon are at the heart of a legal and financial battle. At the center of the dispute is Cameroon Mining Exploration (Caminex), the local subsidiary of the bankrupt British group International Mining and Infrastructure Corporation (IMIC).

The control of Caminex is being contested by two parties: Libyan Foreign Bank (LFB), a subsidiary of the Libyan central bank and IMIC’s main creditor, represented in Cameroon by Elias Pungong; and Caisse Capital Ltd, an investment firm owned by Cameroonian billionaire Colin Mukete, who was also a financier of the British group.

At the heart of the dispute are the legality of LFB’s claim to IMIC’s shares in Caminex and the true amount of financing invested in the exploration of the Nkout and Ntem deposits.

According to Elias Pungong, LFB’s takeover of Caminex was a result of a London court decision. He asserts that after IMIC went bankrupt and could no longer repay its debts, LFB, as the main creditor, went to court in London. The court ruled in favor of LFB buying all of IMIC’s shares, making the Libyan bank the majority shareholder of Caminex.

This version is disputed by other creditors, including Caisse Capital. Its lawyer, Etah Akoh, claims that “the London court only went so far as to pronounce the liquidation of IMIC and appoint a liquidator.” He insists that by law, only a Cameroonian court could rule on the shares of a local company like Caminex. “In claiming otherwise, Mr. Pungong has lied, and we plan to sue him for false testimony,” the Caisse Capital lawyer said.

According to Etah Akoh, the London court could not have awarded the Caminex shares to LFB in any case, since the Libyan bank was only one of IMIC’s creditors. He stated that LFB was fully aware of Caisse Capital, which had injected $5 million into the project. “LFB made contact with us, and discussions took place,” he said. “How, under these conditions, can the bank now want to seize IMIC’s assets in Caminex for itself?“

In response, Elias Pungong said LFB’s $200 million claim against IMIC justified its status as a “senior debt,” or priority claim. “False,” Etah Akoh retorted. “From a legal standpoint, it’s not the amount that matters, but the structure and guarantees. A bank that lends $10 million with a mortgage takes precedence over one that lends $100 billion with no security.” In a Nov. 22, 2024, letter to the Minister of Mines, Industry, and Technological Development, Etah Akoh’s firm, Etah-Nan & Co, informed the mining authority that “LFB’s intrusion in Caminex’s affairs has no legal basis.”

Conflicting Claims Muddle Battle for Iron Ore Assets

The dispute also extends to investment figures. LFB claims that IMIC invested more than $400 million in exploration activities at Nkout and Ntem, financed by loans taken out by IMIC to fund Caminex’s activities. Sources say LFB claims the bulk of these investments in documents submitted to the Cameroonian government. LFB also acknowledges a $5 million debt owed to Caisse Capital by IMIC.

Contacted by Business in Cameroon, Elias Pungong claimed that LFB granted nearly $200 million in loans to IMIC and its subsidiary Affero Mining. He also stated that IMIC raised another $200 million on the London Stock Exchange to finance its activities in Cameroon, bringing the total invested in the country to over $400 million. He said the funds were used to acquire machinery, cover headquarters costs, and conduct exploration studies on the two mining sites.

However, these figures diverge from those advanced by Gordon Partnership, IMIC’s legal counsel. In a Feb. 21, 2018, letter to LFB, the London-based firm detailed its client’s debt situation. “In summary, IMIC owes LFB approximately $81 million and other creditors $70 million. Its subsidiary Affero owes LFB nearly $94 million,” the letter read. In other words, IMIC’s total debt would amount to $245 million, of which $175 million is owed to LFB. The law firm makes no mention of the $200 million IMIC allegedly raised on the stock exchange.

The difference of $155 million between the claimed investment and the debt figures fuels suspicions of fraud.

Caisse Capital alleges that the $400 million in investments put forward by LFB is fraudulent. According to its lawyer, no tangible proof has ever been provided for the financing LFB claims it provided through IMIC to Caminex. “A mining project that receives 224 billion CFA francs would inevitably leave visible traces. Yet at the time of IMIC’s bankruptcy, Caminex was buried under more than 2 billion CFA francs in tax debts, had 160 million in unpaid wages, had lost its offices, and was trying to sell a few vehicles to pay its employees. Its workforce was limited to a few workers abandoned in the bush due to lack of pay. Is that the face of a company that would have absorbed nearly $400 million? Certainly not,” Etah Akoh said.

Caisse Capital shares the position that only a small portion of the $175 million borrowed by IMIC and Affero Mining was actually used for the project. “Based on my experience as a lawyer in this sector, the monthly costs of such a company do not exceed 30 to 50 million CFA francs. Over three years, even including laboratory analyses in London or Canada, expenses could not have exceeded 15 billion CFA francs per permit. How then can you explain the 224 billion CFA francs announced by LFB? These figures are implausible.”

Despite the disagreements, LFB is claiming a central role in the management of the Cameroonian permits and is attempting to convince the government in Yaoundé to grant it a mining convention.

Caisse Capital argues that this is merely a maneuver to erase its own status as a creditor. Colin Mukete’s firm maintains that its $5 million loan to IMIC should entitle it to a stake in any future convention. It is firmly opposed to an agreement being signed for the sole benefit of Caminex and LFB, which it accuses of artificially inflating its contributions. “LFB is not a mining company. Its strategy is to deceive the Cameroonian government and then find a buyer who will acquire Caminex to recoup the $400 million it claims to have invested. This investment is fictitious,” Etah Akoh charged.

A Test for Cameroon’s Business Climate

The Ministry of Mines, however, seems favorable to resuming discussions with Caminex and LFB. This prospect alarms Caisse Capital, whose lawyer has threatened to go to Cameroonian and international courts to have any convention signed under these conditions annulled. “LFB and Mr. Pungong can try to obtain a mining convention with government support. I cannot prevent them from doing that. But I can, and I will, initiate legal proceedings to annul any convention signed on such a false basis. And once the proceedings begin, no serious lender will take the risk of financing this project,” said Caisse Capital through its legal counsel.

Beyond this standoff between creditors, the future of two of Cameroon’s most significant iron ore deposits remains uncertain. The government, having been solicited by LFB for a mining convention, will have to arbitrate a case that involves not only millions of dollars but also the credibility of the country’s business climate.

Source: Business in Cameroon

18, August 2025

Sonara adopts 2-year plan to restart Limbe refinery by 2027 ⁰

Cameroon’s National Refining Company (Sonara) approved on August 13 the Acceleration Plan for Restructuring and Rehabilitation Measures for Refining Restart within 24 months (Parras 24). The initiative agreed upon during a Board Meeting aims to resume production by 2027 with government support.

“Parras 24 is designed to relaunch Sonara’s core functions and ensure the continuity of petroleum product supply,” the company’s official statement said. The plan calls for recapitalization and new partnerships to fund the rehabilitation and quick restart of production. Sonara has not yet clarified whether recapitalization will involve debt buyback or fresh capital injection. In June, a joint delegation from UBAF, ING, and Mauritius Commercial Bank had proposed potential financing for the project.

Technically, Parras 24 aims to restore facilities to their state before the May 2019 fire that severely damaged part of the refinery. At the same time, Sonara will implement a workforce management program to strengthen staff skills and prepare for operations to restart.

The company continues to struggle with high debt. It currently owes CFA261 billion to banks, restructured over 10 years since 2021 at an interest rate of 5.5%. It also owes CFA185 billion to Vitol, CFA8.5 billion to PSTV, CFA14 billion to Trafigura, and CFA20 billion to Mercuria Energy. Repayment of these debts has been ongoing since 2022 through a state mechanism that collects CFA47.8 on each liter of fuel sold at the pump.

While Parras 24 is underway, Sonara has assured partners and customers of steady supply. “The supply of refined products on the national and international market will continue in both quantity and quality until the full restart of the refinery,” the company said.

This ambitious plan, combining strategic financing, technical rehabilitation, and workforce development, marks a decisive step for Cameroon’s oil sector and the stability of its domestic market.

Source: Business in Cameroon

6, August 2025

Biya seeks alternative treasury funding amid surging T-Bill Costs ⁰

As of end-June 2025, Cameroon’s domestic public debt, excluding arrears, which are invoices pending payment for around three months, and floating debt, stood at CFA3,814.4 billion, representing 11.6% of GDP. The figure was disclosed by the Autonomous Sinking Fund (CAA) in its latest update on Cameroon’s public debt situation.

According to the CAA, 55% of this debt is made up of public securities issued by the government on the BEAC market. This market, operated by the central bank of the CEMAC region (Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Chad, and the Central African Republic), has become one of the Cameroonian state’s main financing sources.

On this market, the Treasury issues two main types of instruments: Treasury bonds (OTA), with maturities between two and ten years, typically used to finance infrastructure projects; and Treasury bills (BTA), with maturities under one year, mostly used to manage temporary cash flow needs.

However, as revealed in the CAA’s latest report, “with regard to Treasury bills in particular, which have increased by 11.6% year-on-year as of end-June 2025, discussions are underway to mitigate the underlying refinancing risk, due to mounting pressure on the domestic market’s capacity.”

In other words, faced with rising BTA issuance costs on the BEAC market in recent years—and the increasing difficulty for CEMAC states to raise targeted amounts because of competition and prudential limits on banks serving as primary dealers (SVTs)—the Cameroonian government is actively considering other financing options.

“It is within this context that the Head of State signed a decree on May 19, 2025, authorizing the Minister of Finance to raise loans on international financial markets, up to a maximum of CFA200 billion, for the purpose of financing 2025 Treasury operations,” the CAA noted.

At the same time, the government is working to secure the full mobilization of the funds it seeks on the domestic market, despite saturation among local intermediaries—mainly the SVT banks. To that end, it has taken steps to attract new investors to the subregional public securities market.

In July 2025, Cameroon raised CFA200 billion on the BEAC market through a bond issuance supported by a swap arrangement that allowed Afreximbank to convert foreign currency into local currency. This made it possible for the bank to subscribe to the public offering.

Thanks to this deal with the Cameroonian government, the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) became the first foreign investor to participate in the BEAC public securities market, which has been operational for nearly 14 years.

The transaction also comes ahead of a leadership change at Afreximbank. Starting in September 2025, Cameroonian legal expert George Elombi is set to take over as head of the pan-African institution.

Source: Business in Cameroon

5, August 2025

Cameroon’s debt to China now 2.5 times that owed to France ⁰

As of June 30, 2025, China remains Cameroon’s largest bilateral creditor, according to the Caisse autonome d’amortissement (CAA), the country’s public debt agency. China accounts for 65% of Cameroon’s bilateral debt, representing 20.2% of total external debt, officially estimated at CFA2,648.3 billion.

This puts China’s share at 2.5 times that of France, a historic partner, which holds 25.6% of Cameroon’s bilateral debt, or 8% of total external debt. The CAA said China continues to be “a preferred partner in the infrastructure and energy sectors.”

China has become Cameroon’s main investor over the past decade, driven by large infrastructure projects launched in the 2010s. These include bridges, roads, and dams, mostly financed by Eximbank China. The loans are tied to Chinese firms, meaning each agreement designates a Chinese contractor to carry out the work.

Chinese companies remain active in Cameroon’s infrastructure and energy sectors. Major players include CCCC, CWE, CHEC, and Sinohydro in construction, and Huawei and ZTE in telecommunications.

While these loans have funded key infrastructure, they come with high repayment obligations. Chinese loans are typically non-concessional, adding pressure to debt servicing. In the first quarter of 2024, Cameroon repaid CFA148.2 billion to Eximbank China—CFA34.7 billion in interest and CFA113.5 billion in principal. These were the country’s largest repayments to any creditor group during that period.

The size of China’s loan portfolio has created repayment difficulties. In July 2019, Cameroon secured a rescheduling agreement with Eximbank to avoid default. The deal covered 22 projects valued at about CFA150 billion and allowed 70% of the principal due from July 2019 to March 2022 to be rescheduled.

Source: Business in Cameroon

30, July 2025

Cameroon’s natural wealth worth $222 billion ⁰

Cameroon’s natural capital is valued at $222.3 billion, or about 130,000 billion CFA francs, according to a recent African Development Bank (AfDB) report focusing on the country. This represents 39% of Cameroon’s national wealth and a 4.5% rise from the $212 billion estimated previously.

The World Bank’s 2025 report on Cameroon’s economic situation previously stated that national wealth consists of human, physical, produced, and natural capital. It assessed Cameroon’s natural wealth at 331,800 billion CFA francs.

The AfDB notes Cameroon’s natural capital includes renewable resources such as biodiversity-rich forests that are crucial for climate regulation and carbon sequestration. The country also has an estimated 12,000 megawatts of unexploited hydroelectric potential and significant solar potential, with an average insolation of 5.8 kWh per square meter per day, which favors clean energy production. Non-renewable natural capital comprises oil, natural gas, and mineral resources.

Despite this “significant potential, which constitutes a strategic lever for economic transformation and the achievement of sustainable development goals” in Cameroon, the AfDB observed that “the contribution of natural capital to the Cameroonian economy remains moderate, as its potential is underexploited.” The financial institution cited a decline in natural capital’s contribution to gross domestic product as proof. Natural capital rents fell from 6.5% of GDP in 2018 to 4.7% in 2020, reflecting a decline in the effective economic valuation of these resources, the AfDB reported.

The AfDB noted that the 4.5% increase in natural capital over 25 years conceals a marked relative degradation. Natural capital per capita sharply decreased by 47.9%, falling from $16,105 in 1995 to $8,392 in 2020, the AfDB reported. This decline primarily stems from increasing demographic pressure and unsustainable resource exploitation.

Source: Business in Cameroon

21, July 2025

Foundation stone for fake Kribi refinery ⁰

Cameroon has laid the foundation stone for the construction of a new oil refinery and petroleum reserve depot in the southern part of the country, according to the state-run National Hydrocarbons Corporation (SNH).

The refinery, which is constructed on a 250-hectare site within the Kribi industrial port zone, will have a processing capacity of 30,000 barrels per day, said Nathalie Moudiki, who represented the executive general manager of SNH at the occasion on Thursday.

She added that the fuel storage terminal will have an initial capacity ranging from 250,000 to 300,000 cubic meters.

The new refinery is designed to process Cameroon’s crude oil, aiming to reduce fuel imports by 30 percent, according to SNH.

The construction works are expected to take 18 months. It will be Cameroon’s second oil refinery upon completion. The country’s lone refinery in the seaside resort town of Limbe has been shut down since 2019 following a devastating fire. Cameroon has since relied on imported refined fuel.

Source: Xinhuanet

17, July 2025

Freedom House recommends that Cameroon remain ineligible for US Trade Benefits ⁰

Given the Cameroonian government’s ongoing persecution and arbitrary detention of journalists, the country has failed to meet a US statutory requirement on progress toward the rule of law and the protection of human rights.

Ahead of the July 18 public hearing on country eligibility for US trade benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), Freedom House issued the following policy statement:

“In partnership with the Committee to Protect Journalists, Freedom House has submitted a written comment urging the US government to find that Cameroon should not be eligible for AGOA trade benefits for calendar year 2026 due to its repression and detention of journalists.

“To be eligible for trade benefits under AGOA, sub-Saharan African countries must meet statutorily defined criteria, several of which relate to human rights. They include (1) establishing, or making continual progress toward establishing, the rule of law and the right to due process, a fair trial, and equal protection under the law; (2) not engaging in gross violations of internationally recognized human rights; and (3) cooperating with international efforts to eliminate human rights violations. However, as the ongoing repression and detention of journalists makes clear, Cameroon does not fully meet these criteria.

“As detailed in our written comment, journalists in Cameroon who are charged, arrested, and criminally prosecuted are routinely subjected to egregious violations of their due process and fair trial rights. More generally, as Freedom House has documented in its annual reports, due process and the rule of law in Cameroon have declined in recent years. In Freedom in the World 2019 and Freedom in the World 2020, Cameroon received a score of 1 out of 4 on the indicator for due process and 1 out of 16 for the larger rule-of-law subcategory, but each year since based on collected evidence, the country has received a score of 0 for both subcategories.

“Moreover, by frequently subjecting journalists to prolonged arbitrary detention—which is often accompanied by torture, a lack of any formal charges or trial, and incommunicado conditions that amount to enforced disappearance—Cameroonian authorities are perpetrating gross violations of internationally recognized human rights. Finally, by ignoring the opinions of the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention—which has found that the detentions of journalists Tsi Conrad, Amadou Vamoulké, Mancho Bibixy Tse, and Thomas Awah Junior violate international law and called for their immediate release—the Cameroonian government is not cooperating with international efforts to eliminate human rights violations.

“Therefore, Cameroon should be designated as ineligible for AGOA trade benefits until it makes significant progress in its treatment of journalists. Such progress must include the release of the four detained journalists listed above, as well as a fifth, Kingsley Fomunyuy Njoka, who has been behind bars in violation of international law since 2020.”

Cameroon is rated Not Free in Freedom in the World 2025.

Culled from Freedom House

14, July 2025

The Moudiki empire: A dynasty drunk on Cameroon oil ⁰

In a republic long desecrated by dynastic ambitions and geriatric despotism, Cameroon now bears witness to a scandal so brazen, so unrepentantly venal, that even the ghosts of accountability must surely weep. The Société Nationale des Hydrocarbures (SNH), the state oil and gas company meant to steward the nation’s most valuable resource, has degenerated into a private fiefdom of the Moudiki family, operating with all the arrogance of a medieval court and none of the shame.What masquerades as national development at Kribi Deep Seaport is in truth a festering symbol of oligarchic capture, disguised under bulldozers, steel, and state silence. The so-called Cstar Tank Farm Project – a shady petro-venture being shoved down the throat of public interest – is not merely a corporate overreach. It is a state-sanctioned incest of power, privilege, and plunder.

A family affair, draped in the national flag

At the rotting center of this farce is Adolphe Moudiki, the 86-year-old director-general of SNH – senile in sight, but still omnipotent in reach. Too frail to stand, yet firm enough to rule by proxy, he has now crowned his wife, Nathalie Moudiki, queen-regent of SNH’s new era of nepotism. As legal director and now inspector general – a newly invented post tailor-made for dynastic expansion – she commands the institution like a duchess inheriting ancestral land.

Nathalie Moudiki, who now presides over Cstar, SNH’s shady new subsidiary, is pushing forward a multi-billion-dollar petroleum project without board approval, as if the nation’s hydrocarbons were the inheritance of a noble house, not the patrimony of a people. The project lubricated by dubious Dubai meetings, offshore shell structures, and suspicious partnerships, bears all the fingerprints of a classic kleptocratic heist. The involvement of Franck Hertz Biya, the First Lady, Chantal Biya’s son, only sharpens the stench. That the President’s inner court is now dabbling in opaque oil ventures, playing puppeteer over contracts and concessions, makes mockery of even the pretense of governance.

Kribi: Where dreams go to be laundered

Franck Hertz-Biya is playing an active role in the current negotiations for the attribution to SNH of a 250-hectare site in Kirbi port. A memorandum of understanding between the Port Autonome de Kribi (PAK) and SNH is expected to be signed soon. The project is driven by the special-purpose vehicle (SPV) Cstar Tank Farm Project Management, which groups SNH, its distribution subsidiary Tradex, and Ariana-RCG consortium, owned by the secretive Lebanese businessman Azzam Makhlouf, who is Vanuatu’s honorary consul and special envoy to the Middle East. Cstar is planning to build a refinery, a petroleum product storage terminal, and a gas pipeline in Kribi.

Although SNH’s Board of Directors have yet to approve Cstar as a strategic partner, Nathalie Moudiki, legal director and now inspector general of SNH; who doubles as CEO of Cstar, is already acting as if Cstar is an integral part of SNH; and she is pushing the project forward. On June 19, Cstar’s managing directors met in Dubai to approve the company’s development plan and the creation of its local subsidiary, the Joint Operating Co (JOC). According to a confidential communiqué reviewed by Cameroon Intelligence Report, the JOC will be in charge of “operating and maintaining the terminal for the storage of strategic reserves of petroleum products in Kribi.”

Among the figures present at the Dubai meeting were Franck Hertz-Biya, Emmanuel Patrick Mvondo, Tradex CEO and Mougnal Sidi, Director of Legal Affairs at the Ministry of External Relations. Sidi, has been tipped to officially replace Nathalie Moudiki as head of SNH’s legal department, is the mastermind behind Cstar’s sprawling legal structure.

The Kribi storage terminal, on paper, is a symbol of industrial growth. In practice, it is an altar to corruption, constructed with no transparency, no parliamentary scrutiny, and no credible oversight. The Dubai-based legal structure, orchestrated by Mougnal Sidi, another foot soldier in this grotesque theatre, is designed not for efficiency, but for obfuscation. It is a legal maze meant to hide profits, evade scrutiny, and funnel public wealth into private vaults. This isn’t development. It is plunder at the speed of progress. It is the reanimation of feudal Africa by way of petroleum pipelines.

The Deafening Silence of Power

The scandal has drawn public outrage from public figures like Akere Muna, whose called for an independent audit of Cstar have so far met a brick wall of bureaucratic cowardice. Where is Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, the powerful secretary general to the presidency that publicly spars with the Moudikis, yet does nothing to sever the rot? Where is Energy Minister Gaston Eloundou Essomba, whose portfolio has been hijacked by this royal family and its foreign co-conspirators? Where is the Cameroonian state, when its wealth is being handed to Lebanese middlemen, Vanuatu consuls, and princeling operatives? Cameroon is governed not by law, but by clan, by a coven of career courtiers who sip champagne while villages burn kerosene to light their homes. The SNH has ceased to be a state enterprise. It is a cathedral of corruption, and the oil it controls is not black gold; it is black betrayal.

From Republic to Petrocracy

The Biya regime, now entering its fifth decade of zombified rule, presides over a country where oil flows upward, not outward, and where institutions serve only to formalize theft. SNH, instead of funding roads, schools, or hospitals, has become the treasury of a twilight monarchy. The Moudikis, Hertz, Makhlouf, and their ilk are pimps of the public purse, trafficking national assets in luxury boardrooms while millions live and die in darkness. The Kribi refinery and storage terminal will not store hope. It will store fuel — for yachts, not ambulances; for Range Rovers, not rescue boats .And while Adolphe Moudiki clutches power from his hospital bed, and Nathalie sharpens her knives at SNH headquarters, the very concept of republicanism drowns in an oil slick of cynicism.

Let this be a warning

To the Moudiki clan: your names will not be remembered as builders, but as plunderers wrapped in tricolor. You will not be praised as visionaries, but cursed as vandals of the nation’s soul. To the silent enablers in government: your complicity will not be forgotten. History does not absolve cowards who looked away while the nation was auctioned at Kribi’s gates. To the Cameroonian people: this is not governance. It is organized theft, polished with protocol and perfumed with PR. Do not be deceived.

And to the next generation: remember that your inheritance is being siphoned by a few, in Dubai boardrooms, under fake titles, behind closed doors. But oil is not eternal. And neither is tyranny.

Cameroon deserves a future unshackled from dynastic parasites. The SNH must be returned to the people — or it will become a monument to everything that ever went wrong in post-colonial Africa.

Let the Moudikis build their empire elsewhere. The nation is not their plantation.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with intel files