By Witness Radio and Südnordfunk teams.

Close to 100 activists have been criminalized this year for speaking out about the harm caused by the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) project in Uganda. The EACOP has already caused significant social harm to communities hosting the project, and it is projected to further damage the environment.

The EACOP is a planned 1,443km pipeline stretching from Hoima in Western Uganda to the port of Tanga in Tanzania. It is expected to transport crude oil from Uganda’s Tilenga and Kingfisher oil fields to export markets. Key stakeholders in this venture include Total Energies, the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), and the governments of Uganda and Tanzania.

In Uganda, hundreds of families have already lost their land to the project through the government’s compulsory land acquisition. Many had refused to accept the compensation, arguing it was inadequate compared to the size and value of the land taken but the government, in some cases, has forcibly acquired it. Meanwhile, those who also accepted compensation and surrendered their land have reported that the project has driven them deeper into poverty.

The social harm already inflicted on these communities, coupled with the impending environmental destruction, has sparked a massive rise in anti-EACOP activism, both within Uganda and internationally, with growing opposition to the project.

In August, Global Witness reported that at least 96 people, alone in Uganda had been detained in the past nine months, highlighting the increasing repression faced by environmental and human rights defenders who stand against the pipeline and its impacts.

Bob Barigye cannot be excluded when discussing EACOP activism and the fight for environmental justice in Uganda. Once a biology and chemistry teacher, Barigye has since turned into an activist and has been criminalized for opposing the controversial EACOP project. He is among the many activists targeted for standing up against the environmental and social impacts of the oil industry in Uganda.

“I have been arrested more than six times now”. Barigye revealed.

The escalating arrests result from activists revealing the darker side of the project once implemented, facts that the government and other project implementers are not interested in acknowledging. Their efforts to expose the environmental and social impacts of the project have continued repression.

“Our crime has always been trying to talk about the effects, trying to petition embassies, trying to report, trying to talk to government officials about the dangers of the project that they badly want to invest in. We have encountered with the Chinese embassy where we have been arrested three times with other activists trying to deliver a petition,” the activist revealed in an interview with Surdinordfunk.

The most common accusations against the Stop EACOP activists such as common nuisance, incitement to violence, and most recently, unlawful assembly are seen by the activists as deliberate attempts to weaken their efforts in challenging the environmental harm caused by the project. This makes the activists feel isolated in their struggle.

“They have made us seem like criminals, they have made us seem like unserious people. I have been taken to court twice, and the charges that they have always preferred against us are dubious and dehumanizing. Because the common charge that they normally charge us is a common nuisance, you are taking a report to a government body, but when you are arrested, you will be arraigned in court as a common nuisance.” Barigye further added.

Activists assert that these charges are false, pointing to the recent dismissal of cases due to lack of evidence as proof. For instance, in November 2023, incitement to violence charges against nine young environmental activists were dropped. Earlier, in January 2023, human rights defenders Barigye Bob, Ivan Kabale, Musoke Hamis Walusimbi, and Ssemwanga Jackson were re-arrested and similarly charged with incitement to violence and common nuisance. However, their case was dismissed for want of prosecution, further reinforcing the activists’ claims that these charges are fabricated.

It is not only in Uganda where those campaigning against the oil project are living dangerously. But also, in neighboring Tanzania where oil is to be transported. Richard Senkondo leads the Organization for Community Engagement (OCE) there. At the World Climate Change Conference in Dubai in November 2023, he addressed the problematic consequences of EACOP in his country. However, this didn’t go well with him upon his return back home from COP 28.

“I didn’t know the government was censoring me. Immediately after returning on the 4th of December to Tanzania, I found out that I had been summoned to one of the infamous police stations in Dar es Salaam. That police station is typically known and has recorded a high number of torture and complete disappearances of people who criticize the government.

According to Mr. Senkondo, after receiving the summons, he had to flee Tanzania to save his life. “I was ordered immediately to vacate to Kenya. Up to now, I have not been able to reunite with my family because there is still a lot of hunting and searching for me, but I have stood very firmly against the challenges,” he added.

Standing up against the oil project and for justice demands a lot from activists in Tanzania and Uganda. Also, the lawyers representing the Stop-EACOP activists and the affected community members report being threatened.

“Some of us have received letters, telling us to back off the cases or they prefer charges of defamation on their companies against us individually. But because we believe that the information and the knowledge we use, the evidence we use is direct and correct. So even if they prefer such kind of defamation cases, we are not scared because we have the evidence-based information, that is real and well known to everybody.” Lawyer Kato Tumusiime revealed this in an interview with Surdinordfunk.

The aim of the threatening letters, arrests, and lawsuits is to silence the voices against the oil development activities. Activist Barigye says that young people in particular who still live with their parents, are intimidated by this. Women are also increasingly deterred by police violence and social stigma:

“Most of them are married. Most of them have children. So, in case a charge like a common nuisance is provided against this person, it is the way that he will be viewed in the community. Because if you are being arraigned before court, if you are being harassed as a woman, being arrested the way they arrest us, being beaten, bangled on police pickups, there is that kind of dignity and psychological torture that it brings to them. And it has discouraged most of them.” Barigye added.

But, lawyers and activists are now discovering that the unending arrests of those opposing the EACOP Project are being sponsored by the oil companies involved in the project. They believe that companies like Total are directly funding these arrests to suppress opposition to their operations.

“Of course, these kinds of arrests, I believe, are sponsored directly by the oil companies here that we have in Uganda, including Total itself. Yes, obviously, most of the arrests, including of the activists themselves and the PAPs that are affected by the whole project are sponsored directly by those companies. When you go ahead and follow up on those cases, you find the representatives of those companies also at different police stations or even attending different court sessions to find out what is transpiring about these cases. So that one is a clear and a green light to show that these companies are directly involved and sponsoring these kinds of arrests,” counsel Tumusiime further mentioned.

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By Witness Radio and WoMin teams.

Hundreds of African women activists and climate leaders who attended the week-long Women’s Climate Assembly (WCA), held alongside the African People’s Counter COP (APCC) in Saly, Senegal, have declared to fiercely protect Africa’s natural resources from the rampant exploitation by countries in the Global North.

The Pan-African radical space ignited a powerful collective movement, uniting Africans most deeply affected by rampant resource extraction and ecological destruction, forging a path toward true environmental justice and liberation for Africa’s people.

The WCA highlighted African women’s central role in defending the continent’s natural resources, which countries in the Global North have long exploited. Activists and leaders called for urgent action to protect Africa’s wealth, including minerals like cobalt and lithium, oil, and vast tracts of forested land, which have fueled global industries while devastating local environments.

Activist Ndieme Ndong from Senegal spoke ardently about this exploitation: “All the wealth is coming from Africa. Gold, phosphate, oil, cobalt – everything is coming from Africa. But foreign powers bribe our leaders and rob us of our resources. If we look at all the wealth in Europe, all the wealth they are using in the factories and plants in Europe, everything comes from Africa.”

Held alongside the African People’s Counter COP, this annual assembly set a powerful precedent for future collaborations and united efforts toward a more just and sustainable future for Africa and the world. The activists noted that women have often been sidelined in climate advocacy despite the devastating effects Africa and the rest of the world are facing.

“The 2024 Women’s Climate Assembly has demonstrated that when women unite, they can be a powerful force for change. African women are determined to ensure that their demands and impactful organizing in the fight against the climate crisis are both heard and seen.” The activists mentioned in a statement released shortly after the event.

The assembly also served as a powerful platform for African women to demand gender-responsive climate policies. Africa continues to bear the brunt of climate change’s worst consequences as harmful development models driven by Global North companies, such as cobalt and lithium mining fuel conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, oil pollution in the Niger Delta, forest and land grabs for monoculture farming in Cameroon and Uganda among others, and polluted water sources have intensified the call for environmental change. These destructive practices are driving African women, who are disproportionately affected, to lead the resistance.

“In my village in Côte d’Ivoire, if we want to get outside our community, we need a gate pass to explain why we are going out. When we are in our village, you cannot move your goods freely. There are guards, uniformed men, always in yellow, who monitor movements on behalf of the palm oil company. Many women have been arrested and put in prison by these wicked multinationals just because they are picking fruits of the palm for themselves. This is OUR land. We had to do something. We had to fight for the liberation of these women. So, as women, we organized.” – Josiane Boyo, from Cote d’Ivoire, revealed.

Ahead of COP29 in Azerbaijan this November, the WCA and APCC emphasized the critical need to include African women’s voices in global climate negotiations. African women are leading the push for sustainable solutions, demanding the right to say “NO” to harmful extractive and development projects, reparations for environmental damage, and advocating for an end to the climate debt that has burdened their communities.

Over 120 women activists and leaders from across Africa met from October 7th to 11th under the theme “African Women Rise to Defend their Lands, Oceans, and Forests. ” The assembly emphasized the power of women’s leadership in confronting Africa’s most pressing environmental challenges.

The assembly was organized by a steering group of women’s movements, grassroots networks, and a few NGOs working in solidarity with women in resistance, and 200 women from across West, Central, East, and Southern Africa were gathered last year. The delegates, representing 70 communities and organizations from 17 countries, are at the forefront of resistance against large development projects that extract and exploit Africa’s natural resource wealth at the expense of people and the planet.

By Witness Radio team.

Africa’s path to recovery from the scars of destructive development projects will take decades. These projects, often presented as “development initiatives,” have caused untold suffering, including deaths, homelessness, infertility among women, food insecurity, flooding, and the relentless pollution of lands that were once flourishing homelands. This fallout is catastrophic for the environment and the people who depend on it.

In a radio program at Witness Radio, which was part of the Women’s Climate Assembly (WCA) 2024, women activists from across Africa, representing western and central African regions, revealed the dark reality behind projects disguised as “development,” which genuinely devastates their communities, lands, and the environment.

The rise of these destructive projects has galvanized African women to fight back. They demand alternative development solutions and projects that uplift women, support families, and sustain communities while protecting the environment.

Siya Foyoh, a community activist working with WoME from Kono District in Sierra Leone, shared the horrors her region faces from mining and deforestation. Kono, Sierra Leone’s one of the leading diamond-producing districts, has seen an increase in child deaths due to uncovered mining pits, which flood during the rains. “Every month, we lose one or two children who fall into these pits. This never happened before the mining began,” Foyoh explained.

Beyond the immediate dangers, the chemicals used in mining have led to widespread health crises. “In my district, hepatitis B is rampant because of these chemicals. Our health is suffering greatly,” she added.

But what is more disheartening is the response from government authorities. “When we report these tragedies to the government, we are told the mining companies are too powerful to be challenged,” Foyoh lamented.

Foyoh also pointed to the growing problem of timber logging in Sierra Leone, accelerating deforestation and disrupting rainfall patterns.

“This year, our community saw little and late rainfall, leading to food shortages. Deforestation is driving us toward famine,” she further added.

Another activist, Florence Naakie, from Nigeria’s Lokiaka Centre, highlighted the devastating impact of oil extraction on women and their communities. She revealed that “Countries may be different, but the struggles we face are the same,” recounting stories of coastal erosion in Senegal, deforestation for timber, and the increasingly erratic weather patterns affecting farming communities across Africa.

In Nigeria’s Niger Delta, Oil development operations have ravaged the land and waters, and farmers and fisherfolk are facing an ecological disaster. “Our soil is infertile; even when we use fertilizers, there’s no yield. Fisherwomen report catching fish that smell of crude oil, which we know can cause cancer,” Naakie explained.

She painted a bleak picture of life in the Niger Delta: “We’re being pushed to the brink. People cannot farm or fish, and the pollution has led to widespread infertility and cancer among women. Some of the babies born in these areas are deformed.”

In Nigeria, the oil spill crisis is staggering. The Nigerian Oil Spill Monitor recorded over 1,150 spills in 2023 alone.”Oil pollution has destroyed our environment, caused infertility in young women, and left us battling diseases like cancer,” Naakie added, with emphasis on the devastating impact on women, who bear the brunt of providing for their families in the face of environmental destruction.

“We have many women between the ages of 25 and 30 and above who are now unable to conceive because they have been exposed to a polluted environment. When these women go fishing, they come into contact with crude oil, leading to serious health consequences like cancer. We are seeing rising cases of skin cancer, cleft lips, and deformities in infants born to these women,” Naakie added.

Despite the overwhelming challenges, African women are refusing to back down. They call for projects restoring degraded lands and water sources and for the collective power to stand up to mining companies, governments, and other entities pushing harmful ” development ideas.”

“We will not give up,” vowed the activists. We are fighting for projects that prioritize women, families, and communities. We want a future where we can live dignified lives without fear for our children or our land.”

In-case you missed the live program,