The Zambian government on Tuesday reacted angrily after the French ambassador said oil company Total was being used as a scapegoat for fuel shortages hitting the Southern African country.
French-owned Total holds a 50% stake in Zambia’s only oil refinery, Indeni, which was shut down for maintenance in early September and only resumed operations last week.
The government has accused Total of failing to maintain machinery at the refinery and said that it would be ready to buy out the French firm’s stake.
“We value the political relations between Zambia and France,” said Commerce Minister Dipak Patel, who is heading a special committee set up to resolve the fuel crisis.
“However, I am shocked by the most unbecoming behaviour of the French ambassador,” he said. “The ambassador should stop intimidating us.”
French ambassador Francis Saudubray blamed the government for the fuel crisis, saying the government did not have a clear energy policy and was maintaining artificial prices.
“The French embassy has to react when a French company is treated as a scapegoat. This seems to be the case of the fuel crisis,” Saudubray said in a statement released late on Monday.
“Like in any heavy industry, there can be a breakdown at Indeni. Total has apologised for serious inconveniences that this breakdown has caused to the national economy and the daily life of the Zambian people,” Saudubray said.
President Levy Mwanawasa sacked Minister of Energy George Mpombo about two weeks ago over the fuel crisis that forced copper mines, the backbone of Zambia’s economy, to scale down their operations.
Since it reopened last week, the refinery is still only producing heavy fuel such as diesel and kerosene while petrol supplies remain erratic in Zambia.
Zambians were left stranded as public buses ran out of fuel while motorists spent days in queues outside petrol stations. – AFP