By Witness Radio and Südnordfunk teams

Hundreds of community defenders and activists advocating for environmental justice in Uganda are bearing the brunt of defending community lands and the environment. Several have been often criminalized, tortured, abducted, and charged with unscrupulous offenses for opposing harmful investments damaging the environment in Uganda.

Those against the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), have recently become witnesses to escalating violence. Thicis year alone, over 90 activists have been arrested for opposing the project. In August, Global Witness reported that at least 96 people 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.

Witness Radio, in collaboration with its partner Südnordfunk, spoke with EACOP activists Bob Barigye and Richard Senkondo, along with legal counsels Kato Tumusiime and Aryampa Brighton, who provide legal support to both activists and communities impacted by the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) project.

In this podcast, the activists discuss the ongoing resistance to EACOP and highlight how they are being criminalized simply for raising awareness about the project’s harmful impacts. The lawyers also share, the difficulties they face in offering legal support to affected communities and activists, further re-echoing that opposing this mega project has essentially become a crime.

Listen to the podcast here.

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,