2024-01-04 12:50:45
In Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda. YASUYOSHI CHIBA / AFP
The French group TotalEnergies announced on Thursday January 4 that it was launching a “assessment mission” on the land aspect of its oil projects in Uganda and Tanzania, East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) and Tilenga, which are hotly contested by environmental and human rights associations.
This “evaluation mission of the land acquisition program carried out in Uganda and Tanzania as part of the Tilenga and EACOP projects” is entrusted “to Lionel Zinsou, a personality recognized for his expertise in the economic development of Africa”TotalEnergies indicated in a press release.
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“While the land acquisition process is now coming to an end, this mission will evaluate the acquisition procedures implemented, the conditions of consultation, compensation and relocation of the populations concerned, as well as the treatment process grievances »specifies the company.
Ecosystème fragile
“It will also evaluate the actions carried out by TotalEnergies EP Uganda and the company EACOP to contribute to the improvement of the living conditions of the people affected by these land acquisitions and will propose, if necessary, additional actions to be implemented”she added.
The launch of this evaluation mission is for the French oil giant a way to respond to criticism surrounding the EACOP megaproject, which was the subject of an investment agreement of 10 billion dollars (9.12 billion euros) with Uganda, Tanzania and the Chinese company CNOOC.
Read the summary: In Tanzania, the TotalEnergies oil pipeline project questioned by NGOs for human rights violations
The project indeed meets opposition from activists and environmental defense groups, who believe that it threatens the fragile ecosystem of the region and the populations who live there.
It includes the drilling of 419 wells (Tilenga project) in the Murchison Falls Natural Park, a remarkable biodiversity reserve located in western Uganda, as well as the construction of a 1,443 km heated oil pipeline connecting the deposits of Lake Albert at the Tanzanian coast on the Indian Ocean.
“Livelihoods devastated”
At the beginning of July, Human Rights Watch called for it to be stopped, estimating in a report that it had already “devastated the livelihoods of thousands of people”.
In September, four environmental defense associations – Darwin Climax Coalitions, Sea Shepherd France, Wild Legal and Stop EACOP-Stop Total in Uganda – filed a complaint in France for « climaticide » against the group and its project.
Read also: A new legal battle opens against Total’s megaproject in Uganda
Lionel Zinzou, former Prime Minister of the Republic of Benin in 2015-2016, “already collaborated” with TotalEnergies in the past “on questions of economic development”, via its consulting company dedicated to the African continent. He should submit his report “by April 2024”specifies TotalEnergies.
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