TotalEnergies again before the French courts: 26 Ugandans and five French and Ugandan associations launched, Tuesday, June 27, a new action to demand "reparation" from the French giant for its controversial megaprojects in Uganda.

This action targets the "human rights violations" caused, according to them, by two colossal projects: the Tilinga oil drilling project, and the EACOP (East African Crude Oil Pipeline) project.

The Tilenga project is a drilling of 419 oil wells, a third of which are in the "Murchison Falls" Natural Park, among the most powerful in the world – a biodiversity reserve and the largest national park in Uganda.

EACOP is a 1,500 km heated pipeline to the Tanzanian coast, which passes through several protected natural areas.

"This time it is an action for reparations because the human rights violations caused by its Tilenga and EACOP projects, which the first legal action launched in 2019 (in France) aimed to prevent, have now been realized due to the lack of a quick judicial decision on the heart of the case," said a statement from these associations sent to AFP.

26 members of communities affected by EACOP and Tilenga in Uganda, human rights defender Maxwell Atuhura and 5 French & Ugandan associations launch a new legal action: they seek compensation from Total

We explain the stakes of this action 👇 pic.twitter.com/mxscjWXyRH

— Friends of the Earth EN (@amisdelaterre) June 27, 2023

The applicants are 26 members of communities affected by the Tilenga and EACOP projects in Uganda, Ugandan human rights defender Maxwell Atuhura and five French and Ugandan associations: AFIEGO, Friends of the Earth France, NAPE/Friends of the Earth Uganda, Survie and TASHA Research Institute.

"Total caused serious harm to the plaintiffs"

A press conference was held Tuesday in Paris to announce this legal action, in the presence of these associations and several of the Ugandan plaintiffs, who denounced "violations" and "harassment".

"Total has caused serious harm to the plaintiffs, including their rights to land and food. They therefore request the company's order to compensate them," the statement added.

"It is unacceptable that foreign oil companies continue to make superprofits while communities affected by their projects in Uganda are harassed, displaced, poorly compensated and living in abject poverty on their own land," Frank Muramuzi, executive director of NAPE/Friends of the Earth Uganda, said in the statement.

According to these NGOs, more than 118,000 people in Uganda and Tanzania are affected by total or partial expropriations as a result of the two projects.

Because of Tilenga and EACOP, people "have been deprived of the free use of their land for more than three or four years," the statement said. This has led to the "deprivation of their livelihoods, and thus to situations of severe food shortages" in some families.

In addition, from 2022, "the lands of some villages have been heavily impacted by repeated flooding caused by the construction of the oil processing plant (CPF) of the Tilinga project," the statement added. "Several claimants have been threatened, harassed and arrested simply because they dared to criticize oil projects in Uganda and Tanzania and defend the rights of affected communities," the NGOs said.

With AFP

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