Protecting People, Livelihoods, and Land from a Crude Oil Pipeline in East Africa
The proposed East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) is a 1,443-kilometer (nearly 900-mile) pipeline connecting oilfields in western Uganda with the port of Tanga in eastern Tanzania. The crude oil will be transported to refineries in the Netherlands.
Over one billion barrels of oil are expected to be extracted from two Ugandan oil fields: the Tilenga Oil Fields at the northern tip of Lake Albert and the Kingfisher Oil Field at the southern end. The pipeline could carve its way through savannas, swamps, and countless natural reserves. As with any pipeline, there is a high probability of oil spills that could prove catastrophic for the local environment and nearby communities – particularly given that the region is prone to earthquakes.
If completed, EACOP threatens to displace more than 100,000 people, mostly indigenous communities living in the pathway of the pipeline. Already, 31,000 people have been displaced by development in the Tilenga Oil Fields, where residents were removed from their homes and farmlands without a fair process and compensation for their loss.
Majority stakeholder and French multinational Total Energies is leading the pipeline’s development and it is financed by Standard Bank in South Africa. Since the 2006 discovery of oil in Uganda, the government has continued to use intimidation, harassment, blackmail, arrests, detentions, and other threats to instill fear among the citizens who try to fight against the dangers of oil activities.
Our Work
CliDef has supported young climate activists (including students) facing arrests, frivolous criminal charges, detention, and lawsuits for their activism with the #StopEACOP campaign. For example, in 2022, nine student activists – along with more than 40 other protestors – took part in a march to the European Commission offices in Kampala, where they planned to deliver a petition in support of a European Parliament resolution relating to the proposed pipeline. Ugandan police refused their entry, and then arrested and charged the nine activists.
In 2023, with support from CliDef, a Kampala court dropped the charges against nine student climate activists on the basis that the government failed to produce any witnesses or evidence to substantiate the charges.