Activists in 36 local and foreign Civil Society Organizations (CSOS) have asked the World Bank, America and Netherlands to support an independent investigation into human rights abuses committed against dozens of  vulnerable people in Kiryandongo District, western Uganda.

The CSOs indicate that the human rights abuses are being perpetrated by an agribusiness company, Agilis Partners Limited, which is reportedly financed by the World Bank, US and Netherlands.

Available information suggests that the firm is owned and directed by American businessmen brothers Philipp Prinz and Benjamin Prinz.

“But through its subsidiary, Agilis Ranch 20 & 21 Investment Company (Uganda) Ltd (registration #80020000586929), the multinational company is pursuing large-scale grain agriculture in disputed land in Kitwaala and Kiryandongo sub-counties,” the CSO’s which include Protection International, Policy Action Initiative, Asegis Community Network and the Accountability Counsel jointly claim.

According to the CSO’s, several Project Affected Persons (PAPs) have been forcefully evicted from their land to make way for the agribusiness company’s operation in violation of human rights.

Other concerns of widespread human rights abuses highlighted include, among others, violations of indigenous peoples’ right to free, prior, and informed consent, abduction, arrest, torture and sexual violence against women in addition to negative social and environmental impacts in Kiryandongo District, reads a letter written on June 18 to Prinz.

District authorities who preferred anonymity told Monitor that “no one knows the exact year when the government allegedly gave the land to three multinational companies for large scale farming.”

However, they suggested that Agilis Partners, Great Season (a firm ownedby Sudan nationals) and Kiryandongo Sugar Limited acquired the land under leasehold.

In February 2020, former Kiryandongo Resident District Commissioner (RDC) Peter Debele said “encroachers took advantage of the empty space to settle in the vast fertile ranches.”

Speaking to /*Monitor*/, Agilis Partners spokesperson Emmanuel Onyango dismissed allegations of forceful evictions and human rights abuses.

“To be honest, I don’t know why people keep on accusing us of evictions, yet we still have people residing on Ranch 20 and 21,” he said.

“For a company that is providing agronomic support to several farmers in the area, employing hundreds, this is really sad. If indeed they were evicting people, there wouldn’t be anyone left on the land,” he further
remarked in an April 19, 2022 WhatsApp text.

Petitioners

AbibiNsroma Foundation in Ghana, Accountability Counsel, Agency forTurkana Development Initiatives (ATUDIS), Friends of Lake Turkana, Protection International, Policy Action Initiative, Asegis Community Network , Asia Indigenous Peoples Network on Extractive Industries and Energy (AIPNEE), Indigenous Peoples Rights International, Asociación para la defensa de los derechos naturales, Benet Mosop Indigenous Community Association, Buliisa Initiative for Rural Development Organisation (BIRUDO), Chairperson of Oil Workers Rights Protection Organization, Environmental Defender Law Center.

Others are Global Rights, Green Development Advocates, International Accountability Project, Kebetkache Women Development & Resource Centre, League of Volunteers for Human Rights and Environment (LISVDHE), Menafem in Egypt, Oyu Tolgoi Watch, PIDP, Project on Organizing, Development, Education, and Research (PODER). Sengwer Indigenous Peoples Programme, The Awakening, Women for Green Economy Movement Uganda,
Green Advocates International, Jamaa Resource Initiatives Kenya, LSD, Narasha Community Development Group, Network Movement for Justice and Development (NMJD), Observatoire de la Société Civile Congolaise pour
les Minerais de Paix (OSCMP), Propurus, Turkana Extractive Consortium, Asociación ProPurus and Uganda-based Witness Radio.

Source: Daily Monitor

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is due to publish a new Energy Sector Strategy before the end of 2023. A total of 130 civil society organizations from over 40 countries have released a statement calling on the EBRD to end finance for all fossil fuels, including gas.

From 2018 to 2021, the EBRD invested EUR 2.9 billion in the fossil energy sector, with the majority of this support going to gas. This makes it the third biggest funder of fossil fuels among all multilateral development banks, behind the World Bank Group and the Islamic Development Bank.

The EBRD has already excluded coal and upstream oil and gas fields from its financing. The draft Energy Sector Strategy further excludes oil transportation and oil-fired electricity generation. However, the draft strategy would continue to allow some investment in new fossil gas pipelines and other transportation infrastructure, as well as gas power generation and heating.

In the statement, the civil society organizations point out that any new support to gas risks locking in outdated energy infrastructure in places that need investments in clean energy the most. At the same time, they highlight, ending support to fossil gas is necessary, not only for climate security, but also for ensuring energy security, since continued investment in gas exposes countries of operation to high and volatile energy prices that can have a severe impact on their ability to reach development targets. Moreover, they underscore that supporting new gas transportation infrastructure is not a solution to the current energy crisis, given that new infrastructure would not come online for several years, well after the crisis has passed.

The signatories of the statement call on the EBRD to amend the Energy Sector Strategy to

• fully exclude new investments in midstream and downstream gas projects;
• avoid loopholes involving the use of unproven or uneconomic technologies, as well as aspirational but meaningless mitigation measures such as “CCS-readiness”; and
• strengthen the requirements for financial intermediaries where the intended nature of the sub-transactions is not known to exclude fossil fuel finance across the entire value chain.

Source: iisd.org

Download the statement: https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2023-09/ngo-statement-on-energy-sector-strategy-2024-2028.pdf

The Commandant,

Professional Standards Unit, Uganda Police-Kampala.

Dear Sir/Madam;

RE: COMPLAINT AGAINST UNPROFESSIONAL CONDUCT OF THE DPC KIRYANDONGO DISTRICT FOR AIDING AND ABETTING LAND GRABBING IN NYAMUTENDE KITWARA PARISH KIRYANDONGO DISTRICT AND CARRYING OUT ILLEGAL ARRESTS AND DETENTION OF INNOCENT RESIDENTS/ BIBANJA OWNERS FOR PROTESTING AGAINST THE ILLEGAL EVICTION FROM THEIR LAND.

We act for and behalf of the Lawful and bonafide occupants of Land described as LRV MAS 2 FOLIO 8 BLOCK 8 PLOT 22 (FORMERLY KNOWN AS RANCH 22).

Our Clients are residents of Nyamutende Village, Kitwara Parish in Kiryandongo District where they have lived for more than 30 years and sometime in 2017, they applied for a lease of the said Land to Kiryandongo District Land Board through the Directorate of Land Matters State House.

As they were still awaiting their Application to be processed, they were shocked to establish that the said land had been instead leased to and registered in the names of Isingoma Julius, Mwesige Simon, John Musokota William, Tumusiime Gerald, Wabwire Messener Gabriel, Ocema Richard and Wilson Shikhama, some of whom were not known to the Complainants. A copy of the Search is attached hereto

Our clients protested the above action and appealed to relevant offices, but were shocked to discover that the above persons had gone ahead and sold the same to a one Maseruka Robert.

Aggrieved by these actions, the Complainants appealed to the RDC who advised them to institute proceedings against the said persons, and assigned them a one Mbabazi Samuel to assist them to that effect. The said Mbabazi accordingly filed Civil Suit Noa 46 of 2019 against tne said registered proprietors at Masindi High Court challenging the illegal and fraudulent registration, sale and transfer of the subject land to Maseruka Robert.

While awaiting the progress of the case mentioned hereinabove, the Complainants were surprised to find that the said Mbabazi, instead of assisting them, he went into a consent settling the said suit on their behalf without their knowledge or consent. A copy of the Consent is attached hereto.

Among the terms of the said consent Judgment was that the residents would be compensated without specifying how much and would in return vacate the Land.

As if that was not enough, Maseruka Robert and Mbabazi Samuel are going ahead to execute the said Consent Judgment by forcefully evicting the occupants without compensation which has prompted the complainants to challenge the said Consent by applying for its review and setting aside at Masindi High Court which is coming up for hearing on the 29^th March 2023. A copy of the Application is attached hereto.

Sensing the imminent threat of eviction, we also filed an application for interim stay of execution of the said consent to avoid rendering their application for review nugatory but unfortunately the same could not be heard on the date it was fixed for hearing (6^th February 2023). A copy of the Application is attached hereto

On Thursday last week, three tractors being operated by 6 workers of a one Mbabazi Samuel [the very person who had been entrusted to represent our Clients to secure their Land through Civil Suit No.46 of 2019] encroached close to 50 acres of our Clients’ land and started ploughing it but our Client’s protested and chased them away.

We have however been shocked to receive information from our Clients that on Sunday at Mid night, 3 police patrols invaded the community in the night and arrested community members; Mulenje Jack, Steven Kagyenji, Mulekwa David, Ntambala Geoffrey, Tumukunde Isaac 15 years, Kanunu Innocent, Mukombozi Frank, Kuzara, Rwamunyankole Enock, and took them to Kiryandongo Police Station where they are currently detained.

We strongly protest the illegal arrests and detention of our Clients as this is a carefully orchestrated land grabbing scheme by Maseruka Robert and Mbabazi Samuel who are  receiving support from the DPC Kiryandongo.

The purpose of this Letter therefore is to request your good office to investigate the misconduct, abuse of office and unprofessionalism of the said DPC Kiryandongo District and all his involvement in the land grabbing schemes on land formerly known as Ranch 22.

Looking forward to your urgent intervention,

C.C The Head Police Land Protection Unit Police Head Quarters Naguru

CC The RDC Kiryandongo District

CC The Chairman LCVKityadongo District

CC The Regional Police CommanderAlbertine Region