Disputed oil projects in Uganda and Tanzania: TotalEnergies launches a land assessment

The French group TotalEnergies announced on January 4, 2024 that it was launching an "assessment mission" on the land component of its oil projects in Uganda and Tanzania, the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) and Tilenga, which are hotly contested by environmental and human rights associations. This "mission to evaluate the land acquisition program carried out in Uganda and Tanzania as part of the Tilenga and EACOP projects" is entrusted "to Lionel Zinsou, a personality recognized for his expertise in the economic development of Africa," TotalEnergies said in its press release.

TotalEnergies' headquarters in the La Défense business district near Paris. AFP - LUDOVIC MARIN

By: RFI Follow

Advertising

Read More

TotalEnergies announces that its land acquisition program for the development of its oil project in Uganda and Tanzania is coming to an end. In this context, it decided to mandate Lionel Zinsou, economist and former Prime Minister of Benin, to evaluate what has been done on the ground.

Lionel Zinsou will be tasked with evaluating both the land acquisition program of the Tilenga/EACOP project, the conditions of consultation, compensation and relocation of the affected populations, as well as the handling of grievances, details TotalEnergies in a press release this Thursday morning. It will also have to give its assessment of the programmes put in place to contribute to the improvement of the living conditions of these populations and, if necessary, propose additional actions to be implemented.

While in Tanzania the procurement process was carried out quickly and without much opposition, in Uganda the task was more complicated. Throughout the process in recent years, civil society and NGOs have denounced pressure on the population, expropriation, abusive prevention of the use of their land and inadequate compensation.

The project required the purchase of a total of about 6,400 hectares on behalf of the Ugandan and Tanzanian governments, according to the major, which it said still impacts more than 19,000 households.

NGOs, for their part, put forward the figure of 100,000 people affected: cases ranging from the purchase of an agricultural plot to the expropriation of a house.

Total says that today 98% of the households concerned have signed the compensation agreements. However, legal actions concerning this land component are still ongoing in Uganda and France...

Read alsoClimate: TotalEnergies targeted by a criminal complaint for oil projects in Tanzania and Uganda

NewsletterGet all the latest international news straight to your inbox

Subscribe now

Keep up to date with all the latest international news by downloading the RFI app

Share:

Read on the same topics:

• Uganda
• Tanzania
• Petroleum
• Economy