Swedish Oligarchy Controversy

The Swedish Oligarchy Controversy began when the South African government accused the Swedish government and the N'Djamena based Chadian Consortium of taking advantage of the Chadian government and, basically, colonizing the country through domination of its economy.

= Background = In October 2011, Chadian president Idriss Déby agreed on a plan proposed by Swedish Deputy Prime Minister Jan Björklund to allow Swedish companies into Chad. SkanskAfrika was quickly founded by Skanska AB and promptly began building the 30-story NordTower. Lundin Petroleum secured a deal which allocated half of Chad's undrilled oil to newly founded Lundin Petroleum Africa later in the same month.

Due to the violent nature of Chad's history, SkanskAfrika, Lundin Petroleum Africa, and Atlas Copco Africa (whom was tasked with building Lundin Petroleum assets in Chad) contracted Securitas AB to provide armed security at all places of operation, including armed protection transportation.

The Controversy
In March 2012 it was discovered that of the thousands of Chadian Consortium employees in Chad, only about 39% were Chadien citizens. In the case of Securitas International, 100% of the employees were Swedish nationals. With public backlash eminent, the Consortium worked quickly with Volvo AB hastily founding a fifth member of the Consortium, public transportation company ChadBus.

South African Accusation
South Africa soon went to the United Nations and opened an investigation into the Consortium's exploits in Chad. Grounds of South Africa's accusations were the appalling Swedish to Chadian employee ratios among the Consortium companies operating in Chad. The Swedish government and Chadian Consortium fired back, saying the Consortium was improving the lives of Chadians through infrastructure construction.

= United Nations Hearing = South Africa opened a United Nations hearing regarding the controversy.

Swedish Ambassador to the UN Anders Lidén, without being briefed by the Swedish government, replied to the best of his ability.

The Swedish response explained that new jobs were on the way. However, whether these new jobs were to be filled by Chadien citizens or more Swedish nationals remained unknown. SkanskAfrika CEO Halvard Wrangel quickly issued a statement briefly outlining the plan of action his company, and the others, were planning on taking.



The United States of America and African Union soon made their own official statements in regarding the Consortium.

= Aftermath =
 * The Chadian Consortium was able to continue operations in Chad.
 * Relations between South Africa and Sweden grew bitter.