Uganda: new legal action against TotalEnergies' oil megaproject

Several activists and NGOs launched on Tuesday (June 27th) a new legal fight against the French multinational to demand "reparation" for the "human rights violations", caused according to them, by its mega oil project in Uganda and Tanzania. This megaproject involves the construction of a huge pipeline linking Lake Albert to the Indian Ocean and the drilling of 400 oil wells.

The site under construction where the future crude oil processing unit will be held, near the village of Buliisa, on July 16, 2022. © Charlotte Cosset / RFI

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This new legal action comes four months after the court in Paris ruled "inadmissible" a first appeal of the opponents of the TotalEnergies sites. This time, the challenge is to show that the French group has failed in its duty of vigilance, that is to say that it has not sufficiently identified the risks related to its activities.

Abusive expropriations, insufficient compensation, harassment... these are the damages that the plaintiffs accuse TotalEnergies of. They are 26 Ugandans and five Ugandan and French associations. For Juliette Renaud, campaign manager at Friends of the Earth, these damages could have been avoided if Total had put in place a vigilance plan.

« What you need to know is that even if these pressures and intimidation are often carried out by the Ugandan authorities, Total had this duty of vigilance to identify these risks of violation of the freedom of opinion, expression and demonstration of community members or human rights defenders. »

The success of this new legal action depends on the ability to collect evidence, a difficult task according to human rights defender Maxwell Atuhura. "Today, it has become difficult to access the people affected by Total's projects, because you have to apply for authorization from the government. The biggest human rights violation in Uganda is that communities are deprived of the free use of their land, yet they depend on their land for everything. But, being prevented from meeting witnesses, we are deprived of their testimonies.

TotalEnergies maintains that its megaproject will bring economic, social and environmental benefits to local populations. The first hearing in this case will take place next December.

" READ ALSO Disputed project of the oil group TotalEnergies: what reality in Uganda and Tanzania?

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• Uganda
• Energies
• Petroleum