Environmental activist 'detained' in Uganda, NGOs say

Environmental activist 'detained' in Uganda, NGOs say
by AFP Staff Writers
Kampala (AFP) June 7, 2024

An environmental activist in Uganda opposed to a huge oil drilling project headed by French giant TotalEnergies has been detained by soldiers, two NGOs said Friday.

Stephen Kwikiriza has not been heard from for three days, according to the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH).

"In a particularly worrying escalation of repression, Stephen Kwikiriza, from the Environmental Governance Institute (EGI), was apparently taken away by officers from the Ugandan army in civilian clothes, on June 4," FIDH said in a statement sent to AFP.

TotalEnergies signed an agreement with the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) in 2022 to develop Ugandan oil fields and ship the crude via a 1,445-kilometre (900-mile) pipeline to Tanzania's Indian Ocean port of Tanga.

Environmental groups say the project is having dire consequences for local communities and the environment and have accused TotalEnergies of greenwashing.

Asked by AFP, Julius Hakiza, the police spokesman for the area where Kwikiriza lives, said he was unaware of any arrest.

Contacted by AFP, the army has yet to respond.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said it was "deeply concerned" by Kwikiriza's disappearance.

"The Ugandan authorities should urgently and impartially investigate Kwikiriza's detention and secure his immediate release," Myrto Tilianaki, senior environmental rights advocate at HRW, said in a statement.

"The Ugandan government needs to end its harassment of opponents of oil development in the country, such as the East African Crude Oil Pipeline Project, which has already devastated thousands of people's livelihoods in Uganda and, if completed, will displace thousands of people and contribute to the global climate crisis," she said.

HRW said Kwikiriza had not been heard of since sending an SMS message to an EGI colleague in which he said he "had been arrested by plainclothes Ugandan military officers".

FIDH said that 11 environmental activists "were kidnapped, arbitrarily arrested, detained or subjected to different forms of harassment by the Ugandan authorities between May 27 and June 5, 2024."

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled the East African country with an iron fist since 1986, has regularly praised the oil project as an economic boon.

str-dyg/sba/bc/js

TotalEnergies

CNOOC