In a sweeping revelation that sent shockwaves through the international community, Human Rights Watch (HRW) unveiled a saga of staggering proportions on Thursday.
They accused Ugandan authorities of unleashing a torrent of oppression upon activists and protesters who dared to challenge the colossal East African oil venture spearheaded by the formidable French behemoth, TotalEnergies.
This audacious $10-billion project, a union between TotalEnergies and the formidable China National Offshore Oil Corporation, aimed to unfurl its dominion over oilfields in Uganda, a venture hailed by none other than President Yoweri Museveni himself as an unparalleled economic marvel.
Yet, this mammoth endeavor found itself ensnared in the tendrils of opposition, as fervent champions of human rights and fervid environmentalists rallied against its relentless advance.
Legal tempests brewed in the hallowed halls of France, while the European Parliament raised its voice in concern, decrying the wrongful incarceration of valiant environmental champions and the ruthless expropriation of land, bereft of just recompense.
The grandiose scheme was to birth forth some four hundred oil wells within the sprawling expanse of Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda’s most vast sanctuary. From there, a serpent-like pipeline, measuring an astonishing 1,445 kilometers, would snake its way to the Tanzanian port of Tanga, bearing its crude cargo.
TotalEnergies, with a bravado that matched the scale of their undertaking, claimed that the displaced had been bestowed with due reparation, while earnest endeavors to safeguard the fragile environment were diligently undertaken.
Yet, HRW’s magnum opus of investigation, spanning from March to September of 2023, unfolded a tapestry of tales, where 31 souls in Uganda and Tanzania, including 21 indomitable activists, bore witness to a torrential downpour of threats, persecution, and arrests without a semblance of legal charge.
John Kaheero Mugisa, once the illustrious head of the Oil and Gas Human Rights Defenders Association, a stalwart bastion for just recompense, now languished in the cruel clutches of prison, his health waning, the cost of his audacity.
Activists, entrenched in the heart of Uganda’s pulsating capital, Kampala, and the steadfast towns of Buliisa and Hoima, found their sanctuaries invaded in the tumultuous year of 2021.
“Our work is a shadow, under siege by the specter of local authorities. We cower in fear of arrest, our livelihoods teetering on the precipice,” one activist bemoaned to HRW.
Jealousy Mugisha, his very name a testament to the discord sown by the oil project, embarked on a journey to France, seeking solace in a courtroom, only to find himself ensnared in a sinister web of detention and interrogation upon his return to Ugandan soil.
The ominous words of the government agents at the airport hung heavy in the air, a harbinger of doom: “Witness not again in France, for the cost may be your very life.”
In a harrowing crescendo, HRW echoed the cries of students, their voices choked by the ruthless grip of detention during protests against the juggernaut project.
They bore witness to the brutal onslaught, uniformed parliamentary security and faceless others wielding batons, gun butts, and boots, as they sought to quell the tumultuous tide.
Felix Horne, the tenacious senior environment researcher at HRW, declared, “This crackdown is a glacier, freezing the rivers of free expression in the face of one of the most contentious fossil fuel enterprises in the annals of history.”
“The Ugandan government must cease its capricious arrests of anti-oil pipeline champions and safeguard their sacrosanct right to voice dissent, in accordance with the sanctified tenets of international human rights,” the impassioned call resounded from the very soul of Felix Horne.
Yet, TotalEnergies, unflinching in the face of the maelstrom, professed a dedication to the defense of human rights defenders, decrying any assault or threat against those who nobly championed the cause of humanity.
As for Uganda’s government, veiled in silence, it offered no rebuttal to the allegations that danced within the pages of HRW’s resounding exposé.
In the face of HRW’s fervent plea for a halt, that promised salvation for both the environment and beleaguered communities, President Yoweri Museveni stood resolute, vowing to forge on, to see the project to its staggering conclusion, a monolith amidst the tumultuous waves of resistance.
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