{"id":49106,"date":"2023-07-11T17:41:42","date_gmt":"2023-07-11T17:41:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/totalenergies-oil-project-a-disaster-for-ugandans-hrw"},"modified":"2023-07-11T18:03:56","modified_gmt":"2023-07-11T18:03:56","slug":"totalenergies-oil-project-a-disaster-for-ugandans-hrw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/totalenergies-oil-project-a-disaster-for-ugandans-hrw","title":{"rendered":"TotalEnergies oil project \u2018a disaster\u2019 for Ugandans – HRW"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. <\/strong><\/span>Human Rights Watch (HRW) yesterday urged a halt to a major East African oil project led by French giant TotalEnergies, warning of dire consequences for the environment and local communities. TotalEnergies and the China National Offshore Oil Corporation signed a US$10-billion agreement last year to develop Ugandan oilfields and ship the crude through a 1 445-kilometre (900-mile) pipeline to Tanzania\u2019s Indian Ocean port of Tanga.<\/p>\n

The East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) has run into strong opposition from rights activists and environmental groups, and faced legal action in France and criticism in the European Parliament. TotalEnergies says those displaced by the project have been fairly compensated and measures have been taken to protect the environment.<\/p>\n

But HRW says the mega-project will irreparably harm fragile ecosystems, and alleges that some of the 100 000 people expected to be displaced by its development have been poorly treated. Researchers conducted over 90 interviews in March and April this year, including with 75 displaced families, many of whom said they had received delayed or inadequate compensation.<\/p>\n

Others told HRW they were pressured into selling their land.<\/p>\n

\u201cEACOP has been a disaster for the tens of thousands who have lost the land that provided food for their families and an income to send their children to school, and who received too little compensation from TotalEnergies,\u201d said Felix Horne, senior environment researcher at HRW.<\/p>\n

\u201cEACOP is also a disaster for the planet and the project should not be completed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Farmers told HRW they went into debt waiting years for compensation, with campaigners documenting 37 cases where children were allegedly forced to drop out of school because their families could not pay fees.<\/p>\n

Some signed compensation agreements in English, a language they couldn\u2019t read, while others told researchers \u201cthe presence of government and security officials at public meetings contributed to an aura of intimidation\u201d, HRW said.<\/p>\n

One 79-year-old man said: \u201cIn my heart I said no, but because I thought government would be hard on me, I gave in and signed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those who refused to sign said they faced pressure from company representatives as well as harassment from local government and security officials.<\/p>\n

TotalEnergies told AFP that more than 94% of the people who had signed the agreements had \u201calready received their compensation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThese agreements are supplemented by measures to promote employment, education and respect for women\u2019s rights,\u201d TotalEnergies said.<\/p>\n

The company said it was \u201ccommitted to putting environmental and biodiversity issues as well as the rights of the communities concerned at the centre of the project\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni has vowed to proceed with the project despite the European parliament calling for it to be delayed over \u201crights violations\u201d.<\/p>\n

The parliament has raised concerns over the wrongful imprisonment of activists opposed to the project, and the eviction of people from their land without adequate compensation.<\/p>\n

Five Ugandan and French aid groups as well as 26 Ugandans sued TotalEnergies in Paris last month for reparations over alleged human rights violations at two of its mega-projects in the country, including EACOP.<\/p>\n

Museveni has hailed the project as a major economic boost for the landlocked country, where many live in poverty.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Namibia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. Human Rights Watch (HRW) yesterday urged a halt to a major East African oil project led by French giant TotalEnergies, warning of dire consequences for the environment and local communities. TotalEnergies and the China National Offshore Oil Corporation signed a US$10-billion agreement last year to develop Ugandan oilfields and ship the crude […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":49105,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5],"tags":[234,236,233],"class_list":["post-49106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-namibia","tag-namibia"],"yoast_head":"\nTotalEnergies oil project \u2018a disaster\u2019 for Ugandans - HRW - Namibia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Human Rights Watch (HRW) yesterday urged a halt to a major East African oil project led by French giant TotalEnergies, w ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/totalenergies-oil-project-a-disaster-for-ugandans-hrw\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"TotalEnergies oil project \u2018a disaster\u2019 for Ugandans - HRW\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Human Rights Watch (HRW) yesterday urged a halt to a major East African oil project led by French giant TotalEnergies, w ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/totalenergies-oil-project-a-disaster-for-ugandans-hrw\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Namibia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-07-11T17:41:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-07-11T18:03:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/07\/sm_1689085987.432514.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"465\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/totalenergies-oil-project-a-disaster-for-ugandans-hrw#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/totalenergies-oil-project-a-disaster-for-ugandans-hrw\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"TotalEnergies oil project \u2018a disaster\u2019 for Ugandans – HRW\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-07-11T17:41:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-07-11T18:03:56+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/totalenergies-oil-project-a-disaster-for-ugandans-hrw\"},\"wordCount\":540,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/totalenergies-oil-project-a-disaster-for-ugandans-hrw#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/07\/sm_1689085987.432514.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"africa press\",\"Africa Press-Namibia\",\"namibia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"economy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/totalenergies-oil-project-a-disaster-for-ugandans-hrw#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/totalenergies-oil-project-a-disaster-for-ugandans-hrw\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/totalenergies-oil-project-a-disaster-for-ugandans-hrw\",\"name\":\"TotalEnergies oil project \u2018a disaster\u2019 for Ugandans - HRW - Namibia\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/totalenergies-oil-project-a-disaster-for-ugandans-hrw#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/totalenergies-oil-project-a-disaster-for-ugandans-hrw#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/07\/sm_1689085987.432514.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-07-11T17:41:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-07-11T18:03:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Human Rights Watch (HRW) yesterday urged a halt to a major East African oil project led by French giant TotalEnergies, w ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/totalenergies-oil-project-a-disaster-for-ugandans-hrw#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/totalenergies-oil-project-a-disaster-for-ugandans-hrw\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/totalenergies-oil-project-a-disaster-for-ugandans-hrw#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/07\/sm_1689085987.432514.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/07\/sm_1689085987.432514.jpg\",\"width\":720,\"height\":465,\"caption\":\"TotalEnergies oil project \u2018a disaster\u2019 for Ugandans - HRW\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/totalenergies-oil-project-a-disaster-for-ugandans-hrw#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"TotalEnergies oil project \u2018a disaster\u2019 for Ugandans – HRW\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/\",\"name\":\"Namibia\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"TotalEnergies oil project \u2018a disaster\u2019 for Ugandans - HRW - Namibia","description":"Human Rights Watch (HRW) yesterday urged a halt to a major East African oil project led by French giant TotalEnergies, w ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/totalenergies-oil-project-a-disaster-for-ugandans-hrw","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"TotalEnergies oil project \u2018a disaster\u2019 for Ugandans - HRW","og_description":"Human Rights Watch (HRW) yesterday urged a halt to a major East African oil project led by French giant TotalEnergies, w ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/totalenergies-oil-project-a-disaster-for-ugandans-hrw","og_site_name":"Namibia","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2023-07-11T17:41:42+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-07-11T18:03:56+00:00","og_image":[{"width":720,"height":465,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/07\/sm_1689085987.432514.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/totalenergies-oil-project-a-disaster-for-ugandans-hrw#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/totalenergies-oil-project-a-disaster-for-ugandans-hrw"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"TotalEnergies oil project \u2018a disaster\u2019 for Ugandans – HRW","datePublished":"2023-07-11T17:41:42+00:00","dateModified":"2023-07-11T18:03:56+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/totalenergies-oil-project-a-disaster-for-ugandans-hrw"},"wordCount":540,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/totalenergies-oil-project-a-disaster-for-ugandans-hrw#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/07\/sm_1689085987.432514.jpg","keywords":["africa press","Africa Press-Namibia","namibia"],"articleSection":["all news","economy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/totalenergies-oil-project-a-disaster-for-ugandans-hrw#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/totalenergies-oil-project-a-disaster-for-ugandans-hrw","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/totalenergies-oil-project-a-disaster-for-ugandans-hrw","name":"TotalEnergies oil project \u2018a disaster\u2019 for Ugandans - HRW - Namibia","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/totalenergies-oil-project-a-disaster-for-ugandans-hrw#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/totalenergies-oil-project-a-disaster-for-ugandans-hrw#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/07\/sm_1689085987.432514.jpg","datePublished":"2023-07-11T17:41:42+00:00","dateModified":"2023-07-11T18:03:56+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Human Rights Watch (HRW) yesterday urged a halt to a major East African oil project led by French giant TotalEnergies, w ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/totalenergies-oil-project-a-disaster-for-ugandans-hrw#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/totalenergies-oil-project-a-disaster-for-ugandans-hrw"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/totalenergies-oil-project-a-disaster-for-ugandans-hrw#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/07\/sm_1689085987.432514.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/07\/sm_1689085987.432514.jpg","width":720,"height":465,"caption":"TotalEnergies oil project \u2018a disaster\u2019 for Ugandans - HRW"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/totalenergies-oil-project-a-disaster-for-ugandans-hrw#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"TotalEnergies oil project \u2018a disaster\u2019 for Ugandans – HRW"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/","name":"Namibia","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}