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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Evelyne Musambi

African heads of state break ground for $16B oil refinery project

Kenya Dangote - (Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Five African heads of state led a ground breaking ceremony Wednesday on a $16-billion oil refinery project in East Africa, following calls for the continent to boost its self-sufficiency in processing raw materials into finished products.

Kenya’s President William Ruto hosted his counterparts from Uganda, Ethiopia, Togo, Benin as well as Nigeria's former President Olusegun Obasanjo, shoveling soil at the site to symbolically show construction of the refinery has started.

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