Demonstrators gathered outside Paris meetings of energy giant and Amundi, with some forcing their way into fund manager’s tower block.
The head of TotalEnergies has told shareholders that new oilfields have to be developed to meet global demand, as the annual meetings of the French energy giant and one of its biggest shareholders were picketed by climate activists.
Police said they detained 173 people among hundreds who gathered outside the Paris headquarters of Amundi, one of the world’s biggest investment managers and a major TotalEnergies shareholder.
Climate activists also gathered hours before the TotalEnergies annual general meeting opened. Greenpeace members unfurled a huge “Wanted” banner calling its chief executive, Patrick Pouyanné, “the leader of France’s most polluting company”.
The banner was quickly taken down by police.
Several hundred activists belonging to Extinction Rebellion gathered outside Amundi for its general meeting.
A few dozen protesters forced their way into Amundi’s tower block, daubing graffiti on the walls and smashing some windows, police said. Amundi said eight of its security staff were injured.
The activists say TotalEnergies is contributing to global warming and the destruction of biodiversity through its gas and oil activities.
Pouyanne told shareholders that higher oil prices prompted by insufficient fossil fuel output “would quickly become unbearable for the populations in emerging countries, but also in our developed countries”.
Demand for oil was growing in line with the global population, he said.
But Pouyanne said TotalEnergies would pursue its “balanced strategy” of developing both fossil fuel and low-carbon energy production.
TotalEnergies had proved it was possible “to be a profitable, or even the most profitable, company while pursuing a transformation” toward cleaner energy, he said.
At Friday’s meeting, nearly 80% of shareholders approved the company’s climate strategy, with more than 75% also voting to renew Pouyanne as CEO for three years.
Pouyanné, who last month floated the idea of a New York listing for the company, told shareholders there was “no question” of TotalEnergies leaving France.
He said in April that there was “a case” to move from the Paris CAC 40 index to New York in search of higher valuations and larger markets.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, asked by Bloomberg if he would be “happy” with such a move, responded: “Not at all and I would be very surprised.”
A group of 15 anti-EACOP protesters from Kyambogo and Makerere University Business School (Mubs) Universities was arrested on Monday, 11th, for protesting against the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) project. They have been arraigned before Buganda Road Chief Magistrates Court and charged with common nuisance.
Fourteen of them were students from Kyambogo University including Simon Peter Wafula, Gary Wettaka, Martin Sserwambala, Erick Ssekandi, Arafat Mawanda, Akram Katende, Dedo Sean Kevin, Noah Katiti, Oscar Nuwagaba, Oundo Hamphrance, Bernard Mutenyo, Nicholas Pele, Shadiah Nabukenya, Shafiq Kalyango, and Makose Mark from Makerere University Business School (MUBS). Grade one magistrate Sanula Nambozo remanded them.
Section 160 (1) of the Penal Code Act states that any person charged with common nuisance, once convicted, is liable to imprisonment for one year.
Police arrested them while marching toward Uganda’s Parliament to meet the Speaker of Parliament and raise concerns about the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) project, including the gross human rights abuses and the significant threat it poses to the environment.
This case is part of ongoing protests against the $3.5 billion EACOP project, which will transport crude oil from Uganda’s Albertine region to Tanzania’s Tanga seaport. The project has faced criticism over delayed compensations for affected persons and secretive agreements. Despite a European Union resolution against the pipeline, President Yoweri Museveni has insisted it will proceed as planned.
The prosecution alleges that on November 11, 2024, the accused gathered at Parliamentary Avenue, causing disruption and inconvenience by holding an unauthorized demonstration on the road while displaying placards and banners opposing the oil pipeline.
The 15 activists have been remanded to Luzira Prison until November 26, when their lawyers could apply for bail.
Kampala, Uganda – A group of 15 anti-EACOP protesters from Kyambogo University have been arrested in Kampala, Uganda’s capital by police while marching toward the Ugandan Parliament, Witness Radio has learned.
The activists, dressed in orange T-shirts bearing the slogan “No to Oil” and chanting “Stop EACOP,” were arrested by Police at Parliamentary Avenue at approximately 10 a.m. EAT this morning. They wanted to meet the Speaker of Parliament to raise concerns about the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) project.
The protesters claim that the EACOP project has led to severe human rights abuses and poses a significant threat to the environment.
Their arrest comes just hours after the start of COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan. The 29th Conference of the Parties (COP29), hosted by the Government of Azerbaijan, officially begins today, Monday, 11 November, and runs through Friday, 22 November 2024. It aims to build on previous achievements and set a foundation for future climate ambitions to address the global climate crisis.
Uganda, represented at COP29, hopes to use this opportunity to obtain funds for projects related to resilience and adaptation. However, campaigners contend that rather than speaking for Ugandans negatively impacted by climate change, the delegates will emphasize securing financing for environmentally damaging initiatives like EACOP.
Activists are being detained at the Central Police Station in Kampala.
Police in Kampala yesterday arrested 18 individuals who were marching to the Energy Ministry to deliver their petition to Minister Ruth Nankabirwa, expressing their concerns over the planned construction of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (Eacop).
The arrested individuals are part of the more than 50 students from various institutions under their umbrella body, Students against Eacop Uganda, and a section of Eacop Project Affected Persons (PAPs) who are opposed to the building of the pipeline.
Mr Luke Owoyesigyire, the Kampala Metropolitan Police deputy spokesperson, confirmed the arrests.
“We are holding 18 people who had gathered or assembled unlawfully with the intent to march to the Ministry of Energy. They are currently being held at the Central Police Station in Kampala on charges of holding unlawful assembly,” he said.
Mr Owoyesigyire added: “We are aware that this is the same group that has been moving to the Chinese Embassy, last time they were moving to the Chinese company in charge of oil drills and this group is very resilient because every week, we arrest them. Like they are not tiring, even us we shall not tire to deploy our officers to arrest them and produce them in courts of law.”
Eacop is a 1,443km heated pipeline that will be constructed from Hoima in Uganda to Tanga in Tanzania to transport the crude oil that is expected to start being extracted next year.
It is being constructed by four partners; Total Energies owning 62 shares, China National Oil Company (Cnooc) [8 percent], Uganda National Oil Company, and Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation owning 15 percent shares each.
Soldiers arrest some of the protesters in Kampala yesterday.
Affected areas
In Uganda, it passes through 10 districts of Hoima, Kikube, Kakumiro, Kyankwanzi, Mubende, Gomba, Sembabule, Lwengo, and Kyotera, 27 Sub-counties, three Town Councils and 171 villages.
Before the arrest, the PAPs and student activists said the project had caused more suffering and posed more risks.
Mr Robert Pitua, one of the students and a PAP, said the project, despite coming with rosary statements, did not benefit them.
“We want to reach these people as a way of raising our concerns. Livelihood restoration programmes were insufficient, and now we cannot manage to restore the initial livelihoods we had. Most people are given unfair and inadequate compensation. They are using the old valuation rate and yet we are supposed to be using the current one,” he said.
Mr Bob Barigye one of the activists, said “Some people were given Shs260,000 as compensation in an acre of land, which payment is not clear since it was valued at an old rate. So we are here to express our concerns in a peaceful protest since we wrote letters and reports in vain.”
Mr Stephen Okwai, another PAP, said: “Currently most of us in western Uganda are being disturbed. You cannot know when the rain is going to start and when it will stop yet most of these people are farmers. The effect of this oil project is greatly impacted on the grassroots people.”
One of the protesters being dragged onto the police pickup truck.
What government says
According to their official website, Students against Eacop Uganda is an umbrella body of different student climate activists who are fighting to stop the pipeline construction because of what they call its devastating environmental impact.
These claims were, however, bashed by officials from Eacop Ltd, a firm responsible for the construction of the pipeline.
Mr John B Habumugisha, the deputy managing director of Eacop Ltd, said 99 percent of PAPs have fully been compensated.
“As of August 2024, a total of 9,831 out of 9,904 (99 percent) of PAPs in Tanzania and 3,549 out of 3,660 (97 percent) PAPs in Uganda have signed their compensation agreements. 9,827 out of 9,904 (99 percent) PAPs in Tanzania and 3,500 out of 3660 (96 percent) PAPs in Uganda have been paid. All 517 replacement houses, (177 in Uganda and 340 in Tanzania), have been constructed and handed over,” he said.
He added: “Land is accessed by the project only after compensation has been paid and the notice to vacate is issued and lapsed. Eligible PAPs are entitled to transitional food support and have access to livelihood restoration programmes.”
About pipeline
The 1443km pipeline from Hoima in Uganda to Tanga Port in Tanzania is expected to reach financial close this year, with the nearly $3 billion debt component of the project coming from Chinese lenders Exim Bank and Sinosure. The project is financed on a 60:40 percent debt-equity ratio. As at the end of April this year, the Eacop project progress in Uganda and Tanzania stood at 33 percent.
