The French group TotalEnergies announced, Thursday, January 4, that it would launch an “evaluation mission” on the land aspect of its contested oil projects in Uganda and Tanzania, EACOP and Tilenga, in an attempt to heal its image damaged by a complaint criminal proceedings against environmental associations.
This “evaluation mission of the land acquisition program carried out in Uganda and Tanzania as part of the Tilenga and EACOP (East African Crude Oil Pipeline) projects” is entrusted “to Lionel Zinsou, a personality recognized for his expertise in development economy of Africa”, TotalEnergies indicated in a press release.
“As the land acquisition process is now coming to an end, this mission will evaluate the land acquisition procedures implemented, the conditions of consultation, compensation and relocation of the populations concerned, as well as the process of handling grievances,” the company specifies. “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,” a- she added.
“Human rights violations”
The most contested oil project is the “Tilenga” drilling, 419 wells in Uganda, a third of which in the Murchison Falls Natural Park, associated with the EACOP, the longest heated oil pipeline in the world, intended to transport hydrocarbons from Tilenga to to the Indian Ocean crossing Tanzania for 1,445 kilometers.
Twenty-six Ugandans and five French and Ugandan associations (AFIEGO, Friends of the Earth France, NAPE/Friends of the Earth Uganda, Survie and TASHA Research Institute) launched civil action on June 27, 2023 to demand “reparation” before the Paris judicial court regarding the “damage” caused according to them by these projects, work on which has begun. At the heart of the accusations are “human rights violations”: abusive expropriations, insufficient compensation, harassment, and flooding of land, in particular.