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EACOP Project: A displacement crisis and cultural erosion threatening Ugandan communities.

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By Witness Radio and Südnordfunk teams.

Thousands of people in Uganda are affected by the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) project, which spans from the oil production towers and refineries to the pipeline’s route and extends to its final destination in Tanzania. The Ugandan government portrays it as a promising project for the country’s development, often labeling those who criticize it as agents of imperialism.

The French oil company Total Energies wants to build a pipeline in Uganda and Tanzania. EACOP project was first introduced in Nanywa ‘A’ village, Nanywa Parish, Ndagwe sub-county in Lwengo district in around 2018. Back then, hundreds of people hoped to benefit from it.

In several meetings conducted by Total to introduce the project to the affected communities, such as those in Lwengo District, the Total Energies team communicated that the project would offer enhanced support to vulnerable groups, including widows, the elderly, persons with disabilities, and orphans.

“Total often called us into their meetings, where they assured us that everyone would benefit from the project, with particular attention given to groups such as widows, orphans, and the elderly.” One of the affected residents, Mr. Katoogo Kasim, told Witness Radio.

Accordingly, the impacted communities mentioned that the project was highly hyped by its implementers as a pathway to development and wealth generation. But what turns out are regrets and curses from the would-be beneficiaries of the Eacop project. In areas where the project is passing, they claim it has exposed them to poverty, adversely affected their health, criminalized project critics, and greatly affected their social lives and cultures.

90-year-old Tereza Nakato (name changed) of Nanywa, a village nine kilometers from Lwengo town, suffers from high blood pressure. According to her, her health has been deteriorating daily since the project implementors expressed interest in her land. Before the project, she was living happily and enjoying her old village life.

“A lot has changed in my life ever since these oil people came and took my land. The pipeline now passes through my compound, just three meters from my house, and this has caused me to develop hypertension due to the constant stress of worrying about what might happen next,” the 90-year-old woefully revealed.

During our visit to her home, a brick-structured four-roomed house surrounded by a small farm of two cows and goats, she was still locked in her house by 9 am when we reached there. Next to her home is her son’s house, which is also on the same land. He, too, is affected by the EACOP. Due to her illness, the old widow could not speak much, so her son, Mr. Katoogo Kasim, assisted her in talking to us. The EACOP is supposed to pass right through her compound. The construction work has not yet begun, but signs of its beginning can be witnessed.

Katoogo Kasim told us that the pipeline is located just three meters from his mother’s house. The three meters between the pipeline and the house will be the compound, leaving her with no space to do her chores.

She (Nakato) worries that her house may be damaged due to heavy trucks and machines that will construct the pipeline, and the poor compensation stresses her. Along with other effects, it has worsened her health. For instance, her family has to spend more than 50 Euros every month on her medication – money she does not have. She received some compensation for the land taken for the project. But she says it was inadequate to improve her life. Instead, it is used up quickly by her sickness.

“This project is a disaster, bringing havoc to me and my family. It’s the time when my mother got sick, and all the money that was given to her as compensation was used up for her monthly Hypertension medication,” Kasim further said.

According to Nakato, initially, Total told her that she would be relocated elsewhere or that they would construct a new house. But these were empty promises well-intentioned to coerce her to surrender her land to the project. When she sought relocation or construction of a new home due to the imminent impact on her and her house after giving them her land, the project implementers told her that it must first get cracked or fall.

Nakato is not the only one to cry out about the impacts of the EACOP project on her land and home. Lawyer Brighton Aryempa is advising affected community members and representing some of them in court. In an interview with Südnordfunk, he, too, says that being displaced from their land is one of the significant impacts on the communities:

“Communities are suffering because they are being displaced from their ancestral land without compensation, and even when they pursue legal action. The court cases have dragged on for years, yet land is crucial for creating livelihoods for families and communities. This is happening despite laws outlining how land should be compensated when taken for public interest.” He said.

While the government is allowed to acquire land for public interest, the acquisition should follow due process. This has often been different for the EACOP project. He emphasizes that community members have the full right to demand adequate compensation:

“Some people think the government compensating them is just helping them, which is untrue. These are inherent rights. So, we want them to know some of these basics so that they can negotiate. They can have better compensation rates and are not cheated,” he added.

Similar concerns about injustices caused by the project are echoed in the neighboring Kyotera district. Residents report a feeling of powerlessness. They are being told they must surrender their land for the project and accept the compensation offered, as it is a government initiative that cannot be halted. Likewise, the landlords too are complaining.

Uganda has four land tenure systems under which a person can hold land: mailo, freehold, leasehold, and customary. In these particular areas of Kyotera, most of the project-affected persons live on the Mailo land tenure system. Here, the landlord owns the land, while tenants may have rights to use the land but lack full ownership unless granted by the landlord through purchase with a land title.

Mr. Ssekyewa Benedicto is a landlord in Lusese village in Kyotera district. The entire village survives mainly on agriculture. We found coffee, maize, and bananas growing during our visit to his home. Ssekyewa says about seven of his tenants were affected by the pipeline. He blames the government and the project implementers for not educating him and other affected people about the project’s adverse effects.

‘We lack complete information about how this project will be conducted. This project was introduced to us without proper education or consultation,” he stated.

As a landlord, Ssekyewa claims he has not benefited from the project as promised. He says he was never consulted or informed about how the valuation of his land was conducted. “We were not informed as owners of the land that this is what we are to be compensated or what was valued from our land because the government isn’t clear on the exact valuation,” he maintained.

In the same village, Ssalongo Kigonya Vicent was promised compensation for his two pieces of land affected by the pipeline project. Still, he received less than the amount that was initially valued.  He said he was made to sign a large sum of money on a document over 30 pages long, written in English—a language he did not understand. “I signed 28 million (about 6,916.98 Euros) for two plots of my land where the project passed, but to my surprise, I received only 3,800,000sh, equivalent to 938.73 Euros on my account.” He revealed.

For now, he still has his house on part of the land that was left. But where his crops are, construction will soon be taking place. He reveals that. “I was told that no one can stop the government from implementing a pipeline project. They said they can do it wherever they want.”

Lawyer Aryampa points out that the compensation is often too little. He mentions that government agencies take the value of land from years back but only pay it later when a piece of land is worth much more.

Besides compensation, Mr. Kigonya faced another challenge. One of his pieces of land accommodated the grave sites of his deceased twins, requiring their exhumation and relocation. Total supported the relocation of the graves and promised to support ceremonies after relocation, including celebrations of twin rituals.

In the Buganda culture of the Buganda kingdom, where Kigonya belongs, one has to perform twin rituals celebrating their birth and celebrate twin rituals if the graves of twins are exhumed or relocated due to cultural beliefs and traditions associated with them. In the same culture, twins are considered sacred and hold a special spiritual significance. When twins pass away, their graves are typically treated with relevance, and the relocation or disturbance of these graves can be seen as disrupting spiritual harmony and traditional practices. The Baganda performs specific rituals after the graves are exhumed or relocated to restore this harmony and honor the twins’ spirits.

But up to date, the rituals of Kigonya’s twins remain unperformed. The project implementers did not fulfill their promises, and the father had no means for it alone. According to his conviction, not performing these rituals is exposing his family to significant consequences, including poverty, family separations, and body burns.

Not far from Kigonya’s home is Mr. Bwowe Ismail’s in Bethlehem village, a father of 20 children. His family is living in misery after the project grabbed his entire land without compensation. When he demanded to be compensated fairly, state authorities intimidated, arrested, and charged him with false offenses, claiming he was sabotaging the government project.

In Uganda, criminalization is one tactic used by multinational companies, the government, or its bigshots to silence community land and environmental defenders and project critics for raising the adverse impacts on projects being established.

Bwowe, on one of the cases, was arrested and slapped with charges of robbing a confident, wealthy man. Total offered to lend him support with legal fees and representation in court only if he allowed to sit with them at the table and accept the compensation. But Bwowe refused.

Many individuals affected by this project are dissatisfied but cannot voice their complaints because it is a government project, and they witness how their neighbors are intimidated. Mr. Segawa Abdallah, Chairman of an affected village in Nanywa A, confirmed this sentiment, adding that they resorted to keeping this pain in their hearts.

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StopEACOP Coalition warns TotalEnergies and CNOOC investors of escalating ‘financial and reputational’ Risks

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By Witness Radio Team

The StopEACOP Coalition has issued a warning to shareholders and bondholders of TotalEnergies and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), urging them to reconsider their funding of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) due to the companies’ growing self-financing of the project that exposes shareholders and bondholders to gross financial and reputational risks.

In a public statement released alongside its Finance Risk Briefing Update No. 6, the coalition revealed that the two energy giants have quietly decided to increase their financial commitments to the $5.6 billion pipeline, stepping in as lenders to their own project. This move reflects the collapse of external financing for EACOP amid widespread rejection by international banks and insurers due to the project’s environmental, human rights, and climate risks. These risks include environmental, human rights concerns, and climate-related issues.

According to EACOP Limited’s 2024 annual report, TotalEnergies and CNOOC have provided additional facilities through shareholder loans to fund what remains of the construction budget.

Initially projected to cost up to $3.5 billion and intended to be financed with 40% equity and 60% debt, the project’s cost has since increased to a whopping $5.6 billion. The two companies have already injected roughly $2.8 billion in equity and secured around $755 million in external loans, leaving a debt gap of approximately $2 billion. Currently, TotalEnergies and CNOOC are moving to cover that shortfall themselves, bringing their total funding to about $4.8 billion, or 86% of the project’s total cost, more than triple what they had initially planned to use.

“This is a shocking example of developers financing their own controversial project after being rejected by global financial institutions. It shows that the EACOP is no longer financially viable without corporate self-funding and that investors in these companies are now directly financing one of the most destructive fossil fuel projects in the world,” Reads part of the statement.

The coalition argues that by turning inward for financing, TotalEnergies and CNOOC have transferred financial, legal, and reputational risks to their own shareholders and bondholders.

“Now, to keep the project alive, TotalEnergies and CNOOC are turning inward, relying on their own balance sheets and, by extension, your capital. The situation increases your financial risk, deepens your exposure to the project’s growing controversy, and links your investment portfolios even more directly to the environmental destruction, human rights abuses, and climate chaos that EACOP represents,” the statement says.

“This means that institutional investors holding TotalEnergies or CNOOC securities are now directly linked to the project’s growing controversies, from land grabs and community displacement to the threat it poses to climate goals.”

EACOP is a 1,443-kilometer pipeline stretching from Uganda’s Lake Albert oilfields to the Tanzanian coast, which has faced heavy opposition since its inception. This opposition is due to threats to biodiversity and the environment, as well as to people’s displacement among others.

It is from this that the STOPEACOP coalition is calling for active engagement with TotalEnergies and CNOOC to jointly address human rights and environmental risks and identify a time-bound escalation strategy, where investors publicly set deadlines for the companies to act, backed by credible consequences such as voting against board members or divesting from the companies altogether.

“We are therefore calling upon the shareholders and bondholders of TotalEnergies and CNOOC to act with integrity and foresight, in line with their responsibilities under the UNGPs and the OECD Guidelines, to avoid contributing to severe human rights and environmental impacts associated with the operations of your portfolio companies,” reads the statement.

In the last three years, over 20 major banks and 23 insurers have publicly ruled out support for the EACOP project, citing misalignment with global climate targets and reputational concerns.

The Finance Risk Briefing shows that 43 banks have ruled out financing for the 1,443 km pipeline since the project began.

Governments and international organizations have also faced mounting pressure to intervene, as civil society movements in Uganda, Tanzania, and abroad intensify opposition to its implementation due to its adverse effects.

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12 anti-Eacop activists decry delayed justice after spending 100 days on remand

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Twelve environmental activists who were arrested during protests against the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) in August 2025 have decried delayed justice after their fourth bail application was rejected.

The presiding Senior Principal Grade One, Magistrate Winnie Nankya Jatiko, at Buganda Road Chief Magistrate’s Court, said the suspects’ case was in an advanced stage and therefore, there was no need to grant them bail despite the fact that they have spent nearly three months on remand.

The activists, most of whom are students from various universities in the country under their umbrella body, Students Against Eacop Uganda, an environmental pressure group, were arrested on August 1 after staging a peaceful protest near Stanbic Bank in Kampala, over what they described as the bank’s continued funding of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (Eacop). They were first arraigned in court on charges of being a public nuisance and remanded to Luzira till September 5.

The suspects, who include Teopista Nakyambadde, Shammy Nalwadda, Dorothy Asio, Shafik Kalyango, Habibu Nalungu, Noah Kafiiti, Ismail Zziwa, Ivan Wamboga, Akram Katende, Baker Tamale, Keisha Ali and Mark Makoba, accused the bank of funding the ongoing construction of the 1,443km Eacop, claiming that the project is destructive to the environment.

They reappeared before the same court on August 18, and Ms Nankya denied them bail because some of them were perennial protestors who had repeatedly abused their bail terms.

She, on September 5, declined to hear their fresh bail application and adjourned the court session to October 1 after hearing evidence of three state witnesses.

Some of the state witnesses said they had seen some of the activists participating in more than one anti-Eacop protest.

Mr Kato Tumusiime, the lead lawyer for the activists, condemned the decision by the magistrate to rejects his clients’ bail application and described it as absurd and unfortunate.

“Failing to entertain the bail application prejudices the rights of the accused guaranteed by our Constitution, and the same is not only harsh but also illegal and unacceptable. It suggests that the activists have been found guilty before even hearing their case,” he said

He added, “This is unacceptable in our legal regime. We must fight for our judiciary to be independent and act in line with the law and not to please the people in power.”

The magistrate fixed November 6 when she will rule whether they have a case to answer.

Background

The activists have on several occasions protested in Kampala streets, including at Parliament, the French and Chinese Embassies, Stanbic and KCB Banks, over their substantial support for the Eacop project, which they say is harmful. This time, the bank announced its funding after key financiers withdrew.

However, the government and key stakeholders have dismissed the activists’ claims, defending their participation in the project, which is expected to transform the country’s economy once oil begins flowing.

The $5 billion (Shs18 trillion) EACOP project is a 1,443 km pipeline that will transport Uganda’s waxy crude oil from the oil fields in mid-western Uganda to Tanga port on the Indian Ocean in Tanzania.

The project is jointly owned by French oil giant, TotalEnergies (62 percent), the Uganda National Oil Company Limited (UNOC – 15 percent), China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC – 8 percent), and Tanzania’s Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC – 15 percent) under EACOP Ltd.

Source: Monitor

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‘They Stole Our Ancestors’: Ministry of Water, RDCs Accused of Land Grabbing and Grave Exhumation in Kanungu

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The Ministry of Water and Environment is under scrutiny over alleged illegal procurement of a 70.2-acre piece of land in Kihanda Sub-County, Kanungu District.

According to a petition dated October 10, 2025, submitted to the State House Anti-Corruption Unit, Christine Joy Tusiime accuses officials from the ministry of land grabbing, abuse of office, and criminal conduct. The land in question is her ancestral property located in Ibarya Cell, Kihanda Parish.

Tusiime claims that in August 2023, the government, through the Ministry of Water and Environment, entered into a purported land acquisition and compensation agreement with her for the family land. However, she insists that the transaction was done irregularly and without her informed consent. She further alleges that the land was under a caveat at the time, and that no official land valuation, boundary opening, or legal procedures were followed before compensation and takeover.

The Ministry of Water and Environment is jointly accused with several officials including Hajj Shafik Sekandi (former RDC of Kanungu, now RDC of Kisoro), Amanyire Ambrose Mwesigye (current RDC of Kanungu), his deputy Gad Rugajju, and GISO Ambrose Barigye. Also implicated are local leaders: Jessica Tindimwebwa (LC I Chairperson – Ibarya Cell), Davis Asiimwe (LC III Chairperson Kihanda Sub-County), and Lemegio Tumwesigye (LC II Chairperson – Kihanda Parish).

Tusiime alleges that these officials colluded to demarcate the family land into smaller plots for personal gain, disguised as government compensation. In her words, “To our disbelief, these individuals in government offices demarcated our ancestral land into plots, which they shared among themselves to access and grab money through the Ministry of Water and Environment’s purported compensation.”

She also claims that on October 3, 2025, RDC Mwesigye led a group that stormed their ancestral home, demolishing the house and toilet. Tusiime states that these individuals, using their positions in government, forcibly occupied and destroyed family property including homes, crops, and graveyards without following legal procedures. She further alleges that the accused exhumed bodies of their deceased siblings and took them to an unknown location without the family’s knowledge or consent.

A document reportedly in the possession of the family shows that a Ministry official, identified as Paul Nuwagira—a sociologist—wrote on the land title indicating it had been received for mutation and transfer. The note reads: “Original duplicate title received for purposes of mutation and transfer to the government of Uganda represented by the Ministry of Water and Environment after consent to compensation was reached between vendors and government.”

In a March 18, 2025, letter to the Ministry, Tusiime expressed strong opposition to the transaction, raising issues such as lack of a valuation report, absence of a proper boundary survey, inadequate compensation, harassment, intimidation, and overall fraudulent conduct. Through her lawyers, she pointed out that neither she nor her elder sister had legal capacity to transact over the land. She also noted that the government had failed to issue a certificate of title for the residue land where her family was supposed to be resettled or relocate their ancestral burial grounds.

Tusiime claims the government is proceeding with the development project on the disputed land, despite failing to meet its obligations under the so-called agreement. She alleges that government officials have since taken over the land, destroyed property, and issued threats—with the support of RDC Mwesigye, his deputy Rugajju, and local police.

In an interview, Tusiime said the dispute traces back to 2004 following the death of her mother, when her sister took possession of the family land. She said this triggered a series of actions by local officials aimed at displacing her and destroying her interests. “The RDC then did a report, and from that time, they began targeting us—destroying plantations and allowing others to use the land to undermine us,” she said tearfully.

Due to continued threats and property destruction, Tusiime fled Uganda in 2023 and now lives in the United Kingdom. She maintains that the government must lawfully purchase the land and not rely on what she describes as fraudulent compensation efforts. She further alleges that RDC Mwesigye and his deputy Rugajju are now profiting from the land through activities like charcoal burning and have destroyed their house. Her appeals to the police, she says, were ignored.

She added: “I am humbly appealing to the President to intervene in this matter and rescue me from these notorious criminals pretending to work for the government.”

Tusiime also claims that her attempt to open boundaries and prove the extent of land grabbing was blocked by authorities. She accuses lawyers from Mark Mwesigye Advocates of playing a role in alleged forgery and land fraud related to her property in Ibarya Cell, Kanungu.

RDC Amanyire Ambrose Mwesigye denied any wrongdoing. He said he held meetings involving both parties and advised them to approach the Administrator General. He acknowledged that the land was part of a government irrigation project and said that several families were consulted in 2022, and valuation exercises were conducted in 2023. “Their family was among those consulted. They consented, and they were paid Shs1 billion, which was shared between Christine and her sister. The houses that were demolished are those earmarked for removal to pave way for the project,” he said.

When contacted, Paul Nuwagira, the sociologist from the ministry who handled part of the process, maintained that he acted on behalf of the Ministry. “Whatever I did was under the mandate of the Ministry of Water and Environment. If there is any complaint, it should be addressed to the ministry leadership—not to me personally,” he said. “There are proper channels for handling these matters, and people should stop addressing ministry issues to individuals.”

Despite repeated attempts, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Water and Environment, Dr. Alfred Okot Okidi, was not available for comment.

Tusiime continues to demand a full investigation into the matter, arguing that her family was defrauded and violently displaced from their land by individuals misusing government institutions.

Source: ankoletimes.co.ug

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