MEDIA FOR CHANGE NETWORK

Well connected: The resistance against the fossil industry in East Africa.

Published

2 years ago

July 3, 2024

Activist in Uganda protesting for environmental justice.

Uganda and Tanzania have created facts about the promotion of the fossil industry by launch on the construction of the East African crude oil pipeline. At the same time, the internationally networked resistance of civilian actors towards the booming oil production in East Africa is growing. Judicial complaints are a central element in their fight to uphold the rule of law, human rights and environmental protection.

Last year, the beginning of the end of the fossil era was ushered in at the world climate conference in Dubai. Some countries interpret this as follows: it is necessary to get the last fossil fuels out of the ground. This means drilling, dredging, pumping – to earn crude oil, gas and coal once again.

One example is the fossil industry in Uganda, which is trying to feed its last fossil occurrences from the ground into the global economy. It wants to pump the petroleum down there to the surface and through a heated pipeline into a deep-sea port into the Tanzanian tanga. From there, it, together with the French energy giant TotalEnergies and Chinese participation, is being shipped for the global oil industry.

The oil project called the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) with a targeted running time of 25 years has been under construction since this April. In Tanzania and Uganda, the scope of civilian actors who are fighting against land seizures for the 1,443-kilometre-long pipeline corridor and defending human rights is severely restricted. In Uganda, the police have arrested farmers, journalists, human rights and environmental defenders who have spoken out against the oil projects. Reporters Without Borders once again stated in May that freedom of the press and civil say are strictly curtailed. At the end of May, eight environmental activists were arrested when a letter of protest to the Chinese Embassy was arrested by Ugandan security forces. Obviously, governments sacrifice freedom of expression, human rights and livelihoods for their fossil utopianism.

Bizarre oil shops

Uganda’s government is not only pursuing an export strategy for its crude oil, which is stored in the Albertgraben on the border with the DR Congo. It also wants to modify its own oil import infrastructure. For this purpose, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni initiated an old oil dispute with Kenya: In February, the neighbouring countries decided to resume the plan to expand the Mombasa-Eldoret-Kampala pipeline. This pipeline originates in the port of Mombasa/Kenya, on the Indian Ocean and currently leads via Nairobi to Eldoret in West Kenya. This part has been in operation since May 2014. For many years, plans to extend the pipeline have been circulating, first to Kampala on Lake Victoria, Ugandan, then on to Rwanda’s capital Kigali, possibly even to Lake Bujumbura Burundi around Lake Tanganyika.

This would mean that on the one hand, the export of crude oil is being produced, while at the same time the import of refined oil will be extended. This contradicts any economic logic that the finishing of a product is not outsourced as far as possible. While Uganda wants to transport its crude oil via the East African crude pipeleline EACOP to the port to Tanga and sell it from there on the world market, from Mombasa, 130 kilometres north of Tanga, refined oil via the Mombasa Eldoret pipeline to Kampala is to be pumped at the same time.

On the one hand, crude oil transport for the world market, on the other hand, import of refined oil – that is, of fishing-for fuels – for one’s own energy needs: this is an old pattern for asymmetric trade relations – or, as the Kenyan climate activist Omar Elawi said: business colonialism. Others will benefit from the refinement of the crude oil and transport. The oil, transported twice over thousands of kilometres, puts a heavy impact on the environment and undermines the social development of the adjacent municipalities. The economic dependence of the Global South is simply reproduced in terms of trade policy. And climate policy, the EACOP is also a disaster that undermines the fair energy transition in Uganda.

Problems and protest on the spot …

It is therefore not surprising that the sharpest critics of EACOP include many regional environmental and human rights defenders as well as initiatives affected. For example, Witness Radio Uganda documents land veins on an interactive map and has been providing legal assistance to people in rural areas affected by land expulsion for years. Tonny Katende from Witness Radio says: “We combine legal assistance and media work to mobilize the rural population. This is the only way she can protest with a strong voice against the injustices in land use and environmental destruction and advocate for equal access to resources in our country.”

Another activist is Christopher Opio, founder of the Oil Refinery Residents Association (ORRA). The NGO with over 7,000 members recently protested before the Court in Hoima in Western Uganda. This is where the pipeline is to start, and 42 households have recently been sued by the government, because they refused to accept compensation for their country: “This means that these people are now being driven out of their country,” said Opio. At the protest on the 15th April the landowners moved through the city towards court. They hold signs high with messages such as “Do not attach our rights” and “do not self-elige us for oil”.

TotalEnergies has been drilling in Tilenga on the northern shore of Lake Albert on Lake Albert since June 2023. Four hundred holes are planned, one third of which are in a natural park. In the Kingfisher area further south of the lake, the Chinese company CNCOOC is taking hold to light since January 2023. Fishing communities of both places turn to the companies with a protest letter in April 2024: the light from the drilling rigs violates and distributes the fish, and nitrogen- and phosphorous-containing wastewater is burdening the water quality. The risks documented by international environmental organizations such as Les Amis de la Terre, Natural Justice and Greenpeace, as well as Human Rights Watch and BankTrack, are concerned about water and the health of over eleven million residents at Lake Albert: 426 wells ensure that water is pumped from Lake Lake Lake. The water is then heavily heavy metal and poses a threat to the population as wastewater. A leak would be a disaster for which no one is sufficiently prepared.

… and anti-imperial rhetoric of the revolt

Local civilian actors in Tanzania and Uganda, including lawyers, students and stakeholders, are often discredited by their own governments as an extended arm of imperial Western environmental extremists. An environmental journalist and a community worker temporarily left the country for persecution and intimidation.

Governments sacrifice the environment for their fossil utopianism

Activism does not arise from a capitalist lobby, but scientifically proven risks to the environment, dangers to the health of neighbouring communities, concrete human rights violations such as land displacements and expropriations, and de facto violent attacks by the police and the military – including rape and massive bodily injury to the rural population. On the basis of research and witness reports, problems are combated, such as the inadequate compensation of the oil lobby or the authoritarian behavior of the project operators. Here the anti-imperial rhetoric of the government side is like a diversionary manoeuvre.

The Chinese CNCOOC and TotalEnergies are now feeling resistance from all over the world in addition to the local protest. This is the international (instead of imperial) dimension of the debate. More than 260 civil society organisations are demanding a stop from EACOP. The political forms of action and protest of the well-connected movement against the construction of the EACOP are manifold: an important lever is legal complaints against violations by companies and governments. Another strategy is divestment. Potential investors or insurance companies should be persuaded not to invest in environmentally harmful and anti-social projects, or to deduct their capital from such projects.

Complained, divestment and political pressure

In November 2020, four East African civil society organisations, including AFIEGO, Natural Justice Kenya and the Tanzanian Strategic Litigation Centre (SLC), filed a complaint against EACOP at the East African Court (EACJ). After an initial dismissal, the Appeals Division of the East African Court requested the plaintiffs at the beginning of the year, until 22. March submit written comments. By the end of April, the defendants were again allowed to react to them in writing. The civilian plaintiffs see legal principles violated by the state, including the environmental and human rights standards enshrined in the Treaty of East African Community for the benefit of current and future generations, as well as compliance with international treaties.

The consortium of lawsuits is an expression of a regionally and internationally well-connected NGO community, which takes legal action against the fossil fuels, including its financial and reinsurance companies, through legal action. This means that among the global civilian NGO networks is growing know-how to strategies for how to take several tracks against the land grabbing of the climate-damaging fossil industry. With the worldwide campaign “StopEACOP, 29 investors have now been discouraged to be part of the pipeline project, including the second largest German insurance group Talanx.

In the fight against the large-scale fossil-fuel project EACOP, the strategy of divestment is considered promising, especially in Europe: Public pressure on the suppliers from the construction, insurance, logistics and credit institutions sectors is to prevent the cash flow for the project, which is still not financially secured. Another great success of the international campaign alliance “StopEACOP” was the withdrawal of the Japanese Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group over a year ago. Meanwhile, 27 banks and 23 reinsurers as well as four export credit agencies have announced that they will not support EACOP. Therefore the mood on the Instagram account of the campaign alliance is sometimes euphoric.

The political pressure was also some success. International alliances confront politicians with studies such as “A Disaster in the Making” by Les Amis de la Terre or “Our Trust is Broken” by Human Rights Watch 2023. The European Parliament called on the governments of Uganda and Tanzania to comply with human rights standards in September 2022. In a decision on the COP27 climate conference, the German Bundestag spoke out against the financing of the EACOP in 2022.

Do the climate complain?

Lucien Limacher from the organisation Natural Justice from South Africa, one of the members of the plaintiffs against the EACOP before the East African Court, generally likes the effects of climate lawsuits. On the one hand, climate lawsuits are also increasing on the African continent. However, Limacher also says: “In the global North there is a misunderstanding about how we define climate processes. Africa will suffer massively from the consequences when global warming of more than 2.5 degrees is suffering.” In addition, in view of the 400 to 600 fossil projects that are up to 400 to 600, the climate cannot be saved solely through the route of the process. “So we need to think about how we proceed in legal disputes. A new way of thinking is emerging on the African continent: local climate lawsuits are no longer just about emissions, but about much more comprehensive risk factors such as access to food and water or land, because these areas that will be most severely affected.”

Despite the manifold resistance, the further construction of the EACOP is also progressing – and thus Uganda’s desire to become part of the ranks of the petrostate, half of which cover their economy from oil business. After the exit of European and Japanese banks from EACOP financing, the French energy giant TotalEnergies has signed a contract with China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering (CPP) for the construction and supply of line pipes. This means that the cross-border project has been relocated to Beijing, from where most of the still missing loans are likely to come from. During the recent visit of China’s head of state Xi Jinping to France in early May, there was no public talk of the oil shipping in Uganda. It is hardly conceivable that Macron and Xi of all people can silence the issue, because the resistance against the EACOP is great, especially in France.

The struggles for oil production in Uganda, with the words of the Ugandan anthropologist Paddy Kinyeras ¹, show that pipelines as critical infrastructures represent physical manifestations of power geometry. The realization of the pipeline requires governmental power and strengthens it at the same time. Since the Paris Climate Agreement, the World Climate Summits have been a place to publicly confront this government and corporate power and to create political back pressure against the fossil industry. They also serve as an international networking area for the civilian actors.

At the end of 2024, after the United Arab Emirates in 2023, a fossil heavyweight will once again host the World Climate Summit: Azerbaijan. And thus for the third time in a row a country that plans to rely on fossil resources and revive oil and gas production before the agreed phasing-out. Once again, the summit will be headed by a long-standing employee of an oil company, Muchtar Babaiev. He is the Minister for the Environment of a host country that has little understanding for civilian engagement. It is not very promising to take place against the charged fossil lobby. This is one reason upon all, internationally networked environmental, research and human rights initiatives in the fossil industry. They are essential to open the oil business with protests, climate lawsuits, divestment campaigns and political pressure.

Source: www.iz3w.org

MEDIA FOR CHANGE NETWORK

Global hunger falls, but millions in Africa still go without food, says UN

Published

2 days ago

July 24, 2026

witnessradio.org

Geneva | Global hunger has declined for the third consecutive year, offering renewed hope that progress against food insecurity is possible. Yet for Uganda and the rest of Africa, the latest United Nations findings are a reminder that the continent continues to carry the heaviest burden of hunger despite improvements in many parts of the world.

The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2026 (SOFI 2026) report, released jointly by five UN agencies, estimates that 645 million people experienced hunger in 2025, down from 659 million in 2024 and 688 million in 2022.

The figures indicate that global efforts to improve food security are beginning to bear fruit, but not fast enough to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal of ending hunger by 2030.

For Uganda, the report presents a mixed picture. While global hunger is declining, Africa has overtaken Asia as the region with the highest number of hungry people. Approximately 309 million Africans experienced hunger in 2025, compared to 292 million in Asia.

One in every five Africans remains undernourished, and more than half of the continent’s population continues to face moderate or severe food insecurity. These findings come at a time when Uganda is striving to transform agriculture from subsistence farming into a commercial, climate-resilient sector.

Agriculture remains the backbone of Uganda’s economy, employing the majority of the population and contributing significantly to export earnings. Yet erratic rainfall, prolonged droughts in some regions, flooding in others, crop pests, high post-harvest losses and fluctuating food prices continue to threaten food security for many households.

The UN report notes that while 2.1 billion people worldwide still experience moderate or severe food insecurity, Africa accounts for the highest share, with 56.6 per cent of its population unable to consistently access sufficient, safe and nutritious food. This means many families are forced to reduce meal sizes, skip meals altogether or settle for less nutritious diets. For Uganda, where rural communities depend heavily on rain-fed agriculture, climate change remains one of the biggest threats to food production.

Recent seasons have demonstrated how prolonged dry spells and unpredictable weather patterns can reduce harvests, increase food prices and place vulnerable households at greater risk of hunger.

The report also highlights another growing concern that resonates with Uganda’s public health priorities: malnutrition is no longer only about hunger. While millions still lack enough food, obesity and poor-quality diets are increasing across the world.

Globally, the prevalence of adult obesity rose from 12.1 per cent in 2012 to 16.2 per cent in 2024. At the same time, nearly 150 million children under five remain stunted due to chronic undernutrition, while only about one-third of children aged between six and 23 months consume sufficiently diverse diets.

Uganda has made progress in reducing child stunting over the past decade, but nutrition experts continue to warn that poor infant feeding practices, limited dietary diversity and food insecurity remain major contributors to child malnutrition. The challenge is compounded by rising food costs, making nutritious foods such as fruits, vegetables, dairy products and animal proteins increasingly difficult for many households to afford.

The report reveals that the average global cost of a healthy diet has risen sharply to 4.28 purchasing power parity dollars per person per day in 2025, compared to 2.94 dollars in 2017. Although fewer people globally are unable to afford healthy diets than four years ago, Africa is moving in the opposite direction.

More than two-thirds of Africans, 66.6 per cent of the population, could not afford a healthy diet in 2025. This is more than double the proportion recorded in Asia and Latin America.

For Uganda, where inflation in food prices periodically affects household purchasing power, the findings reinforce the importance of investing across the agricultural value chain rather than focusing solely on increasing production. According to the report, between 70 and 75 per cent of the price consumers pay for food is determined after it leaves the farm, through transport, storage, processing, wholesale and retail costs.

This suggests that investments in rural roads, irrigation, cold storage facilities, food processing, market infrastructure and efficient transport systems could significantly reduce food costs while increasing farmers’ incomes.

Reducing post-harvest losses, estimated to claim a substantial share of agricultural produce in Uganda each year, would also improve food availability without requiring additional land for cultivation. The report further warns that progress made globally could easily be reversed.

Ongoing conflict in the Middle East, rising energy and fertiliser prices, declining humanitarian funding and increasingly frequent climate shocks all threaten future food security. Even under optimistic projections, between 510 million and 520 million people could still be hungry by 2030, well above the level required to meet the global Zero Hunger target.

For Uganda, these global developments matter because the country remains connected to international food, fuel and fertiliser markets. Higher import costs translate into more expensive agricultural inputs and higher food prices, placing additional pressure on both farmers and consumers.

The UN agencies argue that reducing the cost of healthy diets will require targeted investments in agriculture, stronger food value chains, research and innovation, improved irrigation, climate-smart farming practices, better trade policies and social protection programmes that support vulnerable households.

Ultimately, the report offers both hope and caution. It demonstrates that hunger can be reduced through sustained investment and sound policies, but it also makes clear that progress is uneven and fragile.

Strengthening agricultural resilience, improving nutrition, expanding food processing and ensuring affordable access to healthy diets will be essential for countries in Sub-Saharan Africa in order to contribute meaningfully to the global ambition of ending hunger by 2030.

As the report concludes, a world where healthy food is affordable and accessible to everyone remains within reach, but only if governments, development partners, the private sector and communities work together to build food systems that are more resilient, inclusive and sustainable.

Source: independent.co.ug

MEDIA FOR CHANGE NETWORK

Wars are disrupting food systems, and ending world hunger requires urgent global action, experts say.

Published

3 days ago

July 23, 2026

witnessradio.org

By the Witness Radio team.

Conflicts far from the world’s farms are reshaping how food is produced, traded, and accessed. Rising energy costs, fertilizer disruptions, and threatened trade routes expose the fragility of global food systems, increasing production costs and leaving millions vulnerable to hunger.

The global food crisis is deepening as multiple shocks put increasing pressure on food systems worldwide. According to the World Food Program (WFP), hundreds of millions of people face crisis-level hunger, with conflict, climate change, economic instability, and displacement driving food insecurity. Countries already struggling with poverty and fragile economies remain the hardest hit.

More than 295 million people across 53 countries and territories faced acute hunger in 2024, according to the Global Report on Food Crises. This was an increase of nearly 14 million compared with 2023, driven mainly by conflict, economic shocks, climate extremes, and displacement.

The war in Ukraine showed how conflict in one region can disrupt food supplies worldwide. Ukraine is one of the world’s leading exporters of wheat, maize, and sunflower oil, while Russia remains a major supplier of fertilizers and agricultural inputs. Disruption of Black Sea trade routes and uncertainty over exports triggered sharp increases in food and fertilizer prices, affecting farmers and consumers thousands of kilometers away.

Although global grain markets have gradually stabilized since the initial shock, experts say the structural vulnerabilities exposed by war remain unresolved. Many countries still rely heavily on a handful of exporters for staple foods and farm inputs, leaving them exposed whenever geopolitical tensions escalate.

Similar concerns are emerging from the Middle East. Disruptions surrounding the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s busiest shipping corridors, have raised fears over global supplies of oil, natural gas, and fertilizers. Because modern agriculture depends heavily on fuel and fertilizer, a prolonged interruption in these supplies has immediate consequences for food production.

During a ministerial meeting of the MED 9++ countries on “Supporting Food Security and Access to Fertilizers”, United Nations Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Q.U. Dongyu warned that the current crisis extends far beyond geopolitics, affecting food production, trade, agricultural inputs, and access to food worldwide.

“This is not only a geopolitical crisis, but also a disruption at the core of the global agrifood system,” he said.

He explained that agriculture follows fixed seasonal calendars and that fertilizers must be applied at precise stages of crop development.

“Agriculture operates on a crop calendar that cannot be postponed. Fertilizers must be applied at specific moments in the crop cycle. If they do not arrive on time, yields are reduced, regardless of what happens later.” He added.

According to QU Dongyu, even delays of a few weeks could reduce harvests, tighten food supplies through 2026 and 2027, and raise food prices worldwide, particularly in import-dependent countries across Africa and Asia.

Agricultural economist Dr. Joseph Glauber, a senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and former Chief Economist at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), says today’s food crisis is increasingly driven by rising production costs rather than shortages alone.

In an interview with Witness Radio, Dr. Glauber said energy prices are now one of the biggest factors pushing up food costs.

“The biggest link has been through energy. Higher energy prices mean higher shipping, transport, and processing costs. Consumers don’t eat wheat; they eat bread and processed foods that require energy throughout the production chain,” he added.

Dr. Glauber noted that while global prices for crops such as wheat and maize have risen only modestly, fertilizer and energy costs have risen much faster, leaving many farmers with shrinking profit margins.

“For farmers, profits have declined because input costs have risen faster than the prices they receive for their produce,” he said.

According to Dr. Glauber, African countries face unique challenges because they depend heavily on imported fertilizers and face higher transport costs than larger importing economies.

“Africa is quite vulnerable because shipment sizes tend to be smaller and transport costs are relatively higher,” he explained.

He noted that although fertilizer use varies significantly between African countries, higher prices are already putting enormous pressure on farmers across the continent.

Beyond these immediate impacts of war, experts say the world faces a broader systemic crisis. The Club of Rome has also warned that shocks from the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, to disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz and increasing geopolitical instability, have exposed profound weaknesses in global food systems.

The organization says food security can no longer be viewed apart from peace, climate resilience, and energy security. Governments should instead pursue integrated approaches that strengthen local food production and reduce dependence on vulnerable international supply chains.

Experts are calling for an end to armed conflicts that threaten food production, investment in regenerative agriculture, stronger land rights for smallholder farmers, diversification of food crops beyond the world’s heavy dependence on wheat, maize, rice, and soybeans, expanded regional trade, and a faster transition away from fossil fuel-dependent agriculture.

Hunter Lovins, President of Natural Capitalism Solutions and a member of the Club of Rome, says the world already knows many needed solutions.

“This is not a warning about some distant future. It is a warning about next year’s harvest. We know what works. What we lack is not solutions, but the political will to invest in them before the crisis, rather than after,” she said.

MEDIA FOR CHANGE NETWORK

Campaigning LC I Chairpersons Barred from Land Transactions Until Polls End.

Published

1 week ago

July 17, 2026

witnessradio.org

The Ministry of Lands has restricted LC I chairpersons seeking re-election from handling land transactions until after the July 28 village elections to prevent fraud, disputes and irregularities during the campaign period.

The Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development has temporarily barred Local Council I (LC I) chairpersons seeking re-election from participating in land-related transactions, citing concerns over possible fraud and disputes during the election period.

In a public notice issued on Thursday, the ministry directed all campaigning LC I chairpersons to stop witnessing, endorsing, recommending or overseeing land transactions until the electoral process is concluded.

The directive comes as campaigns for village chairperson elections enter the final days ahead of polling on July 28.

“The advisory has been issued as a precautionary measure to safeguard the integrity of land transactions during this transition period and to minimise the risk of disputes, fraud, or other irregularities that may arise,” the ministry said in the notice.

The ministry advised members of the public against relying on LC I chairpersons who are actively campaigning for services involving the witnessing of land sale agreements, verification of ownership, handling of boundary disputes or any other transaction requiring local administrative involvement.

Individuals with urgent land matters were encouraged to seek assistance from qualified legal practitioners or use other lawful channels until the elections are completed.

“The Ministry urges the public to exercise patience until the election process is concluded. This precaution will help prevent costly mistakes and safeguard the interests of all parties,” the notice added.

The temporary restriction comes amid continued concerns over land disputes, which remain among the leading sources of conflict in Uganda, with local leaders often playing a key role in verifying ownership and facilitating village-level transactions.

Although LC I chairpersons do not have the legal mandate to transfer land ownership or issue titles, they are commonly relied upon during land transactions because of their knowledge of residents and local land histories.

They often help confirm the identity of sellers, identify boundaries and witness sale agreements alongside members of their executive committees, providing community-level verification before transactions are completed.

Legal experts have previously cautioned that LC I endorsements only provide local credibility and do not replace formal requirements under Uganda’s land laws. Buyers are still required to conduct proper due diligence before purchasing land.

According to the Electoral Commission roadmap, elections for Village (LC I) chairpersons will be held on July 28 across Uganda’s 71,214 villages. Elections for Parish (LC II) chairpersons will follow on August 10.

The Ministry of Lands said LC I chairpersons will resume their normal involvement in land-related matters after the conclusion of the electoral process.

Source: nilepost.co.ug