The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Do you know who you are dealing with?
As we conclude this letter, allow us to highlight a few facts about Total, the largest shareholder of the deals recently concluded. This is a multinational which has been behind some of gravest environmental degradation and several human rights violations in Africa and beyond. From Algeria to Cameroon, from Libya, Angola to Nigeria. Total is gradually withdrawing from Central and West Africa over the depletion of resources and now extending its operations in Eastern and Southern Africa. We don’t want to see our dear region transformed into another Niger Delta in the name of oil business.
In the specific case of EACOP, Total has failed to respond to the urgent needs of affected communities and repeated alerts from civil society and claimed to have plans to ‘avoid, minimise, mitigate or compensate potential risks or threats to the environment and people’ as part of its greenwashing communication that you should be aware of. The oil giant is facing a legal action in France based on the law on the duty of vigilance of multinationals, in order to force it to develop and effectively implement adequate measures capable of putting an end to the violations of human rights and prevent future violations as well as irreversible damage to the environment and climate.
Your Excellences, building the world’s longest heated crude oil pipeline in the midst of a climate emergency is a terrible development that must be stopped. No responsible government or ethical financial institution or operator should venture into such deadly business at this stage. We sincerely hope you will reconsider this ill-advised project which is likely to benefit only Total and CNOOC at the expense of local communities hit by the effects of climate crisis and pandemic.
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Vanessa Nakate is a Climate Activist, Founder of RiseUp Movement and Landry Ninteretse is the Regional Director of 350Africa.org
