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DEFENDING LAND AND ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS

Uganda government ignores its directive on COVID evictions, evicts thousands of smallholder farmers, artisanal miners.

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Meeting of artisanal miners in Uganda
With the pandemic striking higher in Uganda, poor families continue to be forced off their land by their government and investors despite several directives halting evictions during the COVID period.
Uganda first went into lockdown on Monday the 30th of March, 2020, and the second lockdown was first announced on June, 06th 2021, and later revised by the government on June, 18th 2021 respectively to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.
On April 16th, 2020, the government of Uganda through the ministry of lands ordered a total halt of all land evictions during the ongoing COVID-19 lockdown and directed all local governments and security agencies to enforce the order.
A second directive was announced on the 18th July 2021, with the current lands minister Judith Nabakooba stating that nobody should carry out evictions in this period.
Article 237 (1) of the 1995 Constitution of the Republic of Uganda states that land in Uganda belongs to the citizens of Uganda and shall vest in them in accordance with the land tenure systems provided for in this Constitution.
However, with the increased commoditization of land, such directives are hard to conform to.
Of the worst cases of forced evictions that have been documented in both lockdowns, the government of Uganda has had a lion’s share.
For instance, in May 2020, the government using armed forces forcefully evicted over 600 smallholder farmers in Hoima and Kikuube districts citing that they were occupying illegal fish land sites.
In another case that occurred on August 3rd, 2021 the government evicted over 200 people occupying the Maruzi ranch in the Apac district.
While in the same month of August, a government agency, the National forestry Authority torched several houses of poor families whom it regarded as encroachers in Moyo district, found in the northern region of Uganda.
In the latest looming evictions, the Uganda government is evicting more than 35,000 artisanal miners in the Kisita mines, located in Kisita village, Mbirizi sub-county in Kassanda district, 104 km from Uganda’s capital Kampala.
Both letters written by President Yoweri Museveni on the the12th day of October 2020 and 3rd May 2021, that were followed by his minister Peter.T. Lokeris, Minister of State for Mineral development dated the 24th of June 2021, directed the eviction of the artisanal miners before the 3rd day of November 2021 referring to them as illegal miners.
The community under the Kisita Mining Company were granted a mining lease ML 4603 for 21 years in 2002 over an area of 873 Ha in Kisita by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development under the Directorate of Geological Survey and Mines (DGSM) which casts doubt in government’s allegations that they are illegal miners.
Mr. Ssekate Abdullah is one of those whose livelihood has been thriving on artisanal mining. He joined Kisita in 2006 to try out his luck. Born in Malaba, a town in Tororo District, on Uganda’s eastern border with Kenya, he says mining has been his job and has painfully gained from it.
Residents say they are bound to lose a livelihood in case the government goes on with its intended and illegal evictions.
Sharing a brief history of gold exploration in Kisita, Wegule Isaac says the activity began in the 1970s.
“In those years, very few people knew gold, the foreigners who knew it would purchase it from us but at low prices,” Mr. Wegule, one of the oldest people in the area said in an interview with this defender.
But in the early 2000s, mining activity boomed and many villagers switched from farming to gold mining in the hope that they would be able to increase their income. However, the new boom was short-lived as the government is now threatening the villagers with eviction.
According to Ssekate, more than 1,000,000 people have benefited or earned living ever since the exploration began.
Despite the pitfalls in the economy caused by the surging COVID-19 numbers, several Ugandans are being pushed into extreme poverty by their government.
Earlier in June 2021, while reading the National Budget, Mr. Amos Lugoloobi, who is now the minister of state planning said the mining in which the artisanal belong and extractives sector’s contribution to the country’s GDP increased from 1.1% in 2016/17 to 2.3% in 2020/21. He said the industry was allocated Shs. 49 billion (equivalent to USD 13.9 millions) in the budget for Financial Year 2021/22 to support the mineral development.
Many miners believe that the Kampala regime is subjecting them to absolute poverty since they are losing their land and source of income.
It should be noted that the same regime under the guise of not paying taxes, 3 years ago, deployed the army and forcefully evicted over 60,000 artisanal miners in Lugongwe gold mines in the same district.
The victims were never accorded an alternative resettlement

DEFENDING LAND AND ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS

Breaking: 15 Anti-EACOP Activists have been charged with common nuisance and remanded to Luzira prison.

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By Witness Radio team.

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.

 

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DEFENDING LAND AND ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS

Breaking: 15 Anti-EACOP Activists Arrested in Kampala While Marching to Parliament

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By Witness Radio team

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.

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DEFENDING LAND AND ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS

18 arrested in oil pipeline protests

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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.

Source: Monitor

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