Uganda’s President H.E Yoweri Kaguta Museveni on Friday assured that Ugand will continue with it Oil and Gas extraction programs despite European Union resolution of stopping such activities.
European Union Parliament passed a resolution to force Uganda, Tanzania and all investors in Uganda’s oil and pipeline project to end extraction activities in protected and sensitive ecosystems and shores of Lake Albert.
“Parliament expresses grave concern about arrests, of intimidation and judicial harassment against human rights defenders and NGOs working in the oil and gas sector in Uganda, and calls on the authorities to immediately release anyone arrested arbitrarily,” EU Parliament read.
“MEPs say more than 100,000 people are at imminent risk of displacement due to the EACOP project, with inefficient guarantees of adequate compensation. They ask authorities to adequately compensate people for lost property and land. Parliament also demands the Ugandan authorities allow unhindered access to the zone covered by the project for civil society organizations, independent journalists, international observers and investigative researchers,” EU added
However, TotalEnergies one of the leading companies in the Oil project has insisted it has taken steps to reduce the overall scheme’s impact on people and the environment.
France’s TotalEnergies and the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) signed a $10-billion agreement earlier this year to develop Ugandan oilfields and ship the crude through a 1,445-kilometre (900-mile) pipeline to Tanzania’s Indian Ocean port of Tanga.
Mr. Museveni vowed to continue with a massive and controversial East African oil project, dismissing a resolution by European lawmakers calling for it to be delayed over “rights violations”.
It should be remembered that over a decade back, Uganda discovered Oil in the Albertine region (L. Albert) and since then different developments have been happening and the country was now ready to start extracting it.
Lake Albert lies atop an estimated 6.5 billion barrels of crude, of which about 1.4 billion barrels are currently considered recoverable.