Seven years after the fire that gutted Sonara, its CEO steps up to the microphone and solemnly tells global media that the company is reborn this Monday, 29 June 2026. According to journalist Albin Njilo, one would have expected at least a memorandum of understanding with a financial partner. But no — it was a statement made after a meeting organised by a quartet of ministers to assess reconstruction costs and funding methods, even before going to market to find partners.

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Here is his analysis:

The chosen financing model is Design-Build-Finance-Maintain (DBFM), which covers design, construction, funding and maintenance of the facilities.

​If seven years after the Sonara fire we are only at this stage, how long will it take to find a partner who, using well-known Cameroonian methods, will sign an agreement and then turn to banks for the money? This is already happening with mining partners, unlike elsewhere.

The shadow of SNH and Nathalie Moudiki

​Looking at the timing, this announcement comes a few days after the Cameroonian business community, through its president Célestin Tawamba, congratulated SNH on the new Kribi refinery under construction — a project piloted brilliantly by Nathalie Moudiki. The Gecam president spoke in an international media outlet.

Appointment stakes are turning green

​In reality, what happened yesterday was a simple communication aimed at bluffing the president of the republic, precisely when he was in Switzerland reassessing the performance of those he appointed to assist him and serve the people.

​In its statement, Sonara included a phrase to touch Cameroonians by mentioning a hydrocracker unit that will refine Cameroonian crude. Yet this project was already underway before the fire and is already part of the Kribi refinery.

​Sabotaging the Kribi refinery

“When you see whistle-blowers lurking in the shadows attacking individuals involved in projects, think.

Since yesterday, Boris Bertolt has been publishing incendiary posts against the SNH refinery project, with baseless claims aimed at tarnishing Nathalie Moudiki’s image. Why sabotage the Kribi refinery project on the very day Sonara comes out? Yet at SNH, they applaud the work of this historic company, Sonara.

​Speaking of Sonara’s rehabilitation, in 2020 a high-level delegation from Russian giant Lukoil was received in Yaoundé to propose a reconstruction plan and installation of more modern equipment. The government gave no favourable follow-up.

Regime insiders, who favour imports through traders, cite sovereignty reasons to reject potential partners. Yet Africa’s largest oil refinery, located in the continent’s second-largest oil producer, is private. The Dangote refinery does not belong to the Nigerian state, yet it refines more than 60% of the country’s crude.

​Why is SNH’s model (gas) not applied to Sonara (oil)?

The large Lobito refinery in Angola is built by China, the Copperbelt refinery in Zambia is built by China. Uganda’s first oil refinery is built by Russians, another is planned in Congo.

​Cameroonians, let us pray.

​Albin Michel Njilo (Construire ensemble)