US rights watchdog cites "a climate of fear" in Uganda oil development project

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Oil activities on the shores of Uganda’s Lake Albert have triggered widespread suffering among locals facing forced displacement and other violent abuses, a U.S. climate watchdog said Monday.

The report by Climate Rights International says banks and insurers should withhold further funding for an oil development project run by the China National Offshore Oil Corporation, or CNOOC.

The project, one of two linked to the planned construction of a heated pipeline that would link Uganda’s emerging oil fields to a port in Tanzania, involves the construction of a central processing facility in a vast zone of shoreline that many locals can no longer access.

The report is the first of its kind to detail serious allegations against CNOOC, one of a number of partners in the project. Based on dozens of interviews, it cites forced evictions, inadequate or nonexistent compensation for land and other assets, coercion and intimidation in land acquisition, loss of livelihood and sexual violence.

Dozens of interviewees accused Ugandan government troops of responsibility for forced evictions, destruction of fishing boats, violence, “and creating a climate of fear,” it said.

Brad Adams, executive director at Climate Rights International, said it was “appalling that a project that is touted as bringing prosperity to the people of Uganda is instead leaving them the victims of violence, intimidation and poverty.”

The CNOOC-run project, known as Kingfisher, “is not only a dangerous carbon bomb but also a human rights disaster,” he said in a statement.

Uganda is estimated to have recoverable oil reserves of at least 1.4 billion barrels. Ugandan officials say oil production could begin by 2026.

The total investment in Uganda’s oil fields will reach an estimated $15 billion. French oil company TotalEnergies is the majority shareholder in Uganda’s oil fields, with a 56.67% stake. CNOOC has 28.33% and the Uganda National Oil Company has 15%.

Although this East African country first discovered commercially viable quantities of oil nearly two decades ago, efforts to produce and achieve export capacity have stalled amid tax disputes with oil companies and accusations of corruption, as well as human rights concerns.

Most previous efforts by climate watchdogs seeking to stop Uganda's oil projects have focused on TotalEnergies, which has been sued in France at least twice by groups and individuals alleging food and land rights violations.

Campaigners opposed to Uganda's oil business have long opposed the 897-mile (1,443-kilometer) East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline, planned by TotalEnergies and CNOOC, that would run through ecologically fragile areas to the Indian Ocean port of Tanga. The pipeline would pass through seven forest reserves and two game parks, running alongside Lake Victoria, a source of fresh water for 40 million people.

TotalEnergies has repeatedly asserted that the pipeline’s state-of-the-art-design will ensure safety for decades. A spokeswoman for CNOOC in Uganda was not immediately available for comment.

Ugandan officials have reacted with indignation to opposition to the pipeline, saying the climate campaigns verge on interference in the internal affairs of an independent nation. They say oil wealth can lift millions out of poverty.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has warned that his government will “find someone else to work with” if TotalEnergies and its partners pull out of Uganda.