Monday, June 30th, 2025 | By
By Rajab Bwengye Yusufu (Senior Programs Manager-Community Green Radio, Oil and gas Governance -NAPE)
Africa is known as the World’s richest in terms of Natural resources. These include forests, wetlands, minerals, wild animals, fertile soils, lakes and rivers plus other magnificent land forms therefore, why the continent has remained as a habitat for the World’s poor has never been an issue of depravity of natural resources. Africa’s oil belt lies mainly along its Western coast in the countries abutting the Gulf of Guinea. “One third of the world’s new discoveries of oil since 2000 have taken place in Africa,” with rich oil deposits in Nigeria, Equatorial guinea, Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Garbon ,Sudan, Chad,Ghana,Cameroon, Libya standing out as African Oil power economies.
The recent discoveries of huge oil deposits in East African countries of Uganda and Kenya confirm the dominance of Africa, as far as endowment of natural resources is concerned. East Africa will in the few years host the world’s longest crude Oil pipeline snaking from Hoima district to the Tanzanian coast port of Tanga covering 1443 Sq kms, making record as the ever longest heated oil and gas pipeline ever constructed on earth.
From North, through Central to South, to West and now east, the continent is richly endowed with natural resources. The East African region has been the last frontier. However, the indigenous inhabitants of the land upon which the mineral discoveries are made have witnessed massive disruption, pollution, land grabbing, corruption, human rights abuse and insecurity; these consequences have been felt all over the African continent.
In North Africa, the Arab spring that started in Tunisia, Egypt, through Libya and now biting North and South Sudan has exposed the danger that can accompany petrol dollars; the creation of deep seated aristocracies built out of oil wealth. All the above oil rich nations have ended up in civil strife resulting into death of millions of innocent people as the wealthy and political elites scramble for power.
Estimates of the death toll in the current Sudan conflict vary, but some sources suggest it has reached at least 150,000 people. The conflict, which began in April 2023, has also displaced over 11 million people within Sudan and at least 3.5 million across borders.
People who fled the Zamzam camp for the internally displaced after it fell under RSF control, rest in a makeshift encampment in an open field near the town of Tawila in war-torn Sudan’s western Darfur region on April 13, 2025. https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-who-fled-the-zamzam-camp-for-the-internally-news-photo/2209632149?adppopup=true.
The high death toll is partially attributed to the ongoing fighting between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces, as well as the resulting humanitarian crisis. Reports indicate a significant increase in deaths from starvation and disease due to the conflict’s impact on food supplies and healthcare access according to a study by the London school of Hygiene and tropical medicine.
In Central Africa, DRC has never known peace despite rich natural resource endowment. Oil, copper, gold constitute the denominator figure in the equation and currently the country is being torn apart by armed conflicts in the mineral rich Eastern Province. Through the ongoing conflicts between the Congolese government and M23 rebels, more than 2000 people have already been killed and the eastern regional cities of Goma, Bukavu devastated leading to a huge refugee crisis in the region according to UN reports.
In West Africa, political instability has been the order of the day mainly due to Oil mining by Royal Shell. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (“MEND”) is, for example, one of the largest militant groups; it claims to expose exploitation and oppression of the people by Federal Government of Nigeria and Oil corporations involved in the extraction of oil in the Niger Delta led by Royal Dutch energy Giant –Shell .
In East Africa, there are all signs that poor governance of the oil resource is the biggest challenge that is befalling Uganda’s oil dollar fortunes in the Albertine rift. East Africans in Kenya and Tanzania should, therefore, be wary. Lest the trend comes calling.
In Kenya for example, Oil in 2007 was discovered in Sibiloi National Park the South Island and the Central Island National Parks located in the Lake Turkana Basin-North Kenya. The area was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1997 due to being inhabited by diverse fauna. Mining this oil means violation of the world heritage convention adopted by UNESCO in 1972.
• In Tanzania, there is off shore mapping of oil and gas deposits in the deeper continental shelf –The Indian Ocean Coast by The Norwegian Company Statoil Hydro which signed a PSA, in April 2007, on Block II offshore and now , the East African crude pipeline (EACOP) project will in Tanzania alone tranverse 7 regions and twenty-three (23) Districts, namely, Missenyi, Bukoba, Muleba, Biharamulo, Chato, Geita, Mbogwe, Bukombe, Kahama, Nzega, Igunga, Iramba, Mkalama, Singida, Kondoa, Chemba, Hanang, Kiteto, Kilindi, Handeni, Korogwe, Muheza, and Tanga, and cover a distance of one thousand one hundred forty-seven (1,147) kilometres. The thirty (30) metre-wide corridor running for one thousand, one hundred, forty-seven (1,147) km, plus the land-take of the four (4) pump stations, two (2) pressure reduction stations, the marine storage terminal, the twelve (12) camps and the thermal insulation facility will take up ten thousand eighty-one (10,081) acres. This will affect a total of nine thousand five hundred thirteen (9,513) people – the PAPs. More importantly, the Tanzanian coastline that will also be partly affected is covered by Rich Mangrove forest that are breeding places of many land animal and bird species
In Uganda/Democratic Republic of Congo, there is Oil exploration in Virunga National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and home to some of the world’s critically endangered mountain gorillas and across in Uganda , the building of 2 central Processing facilities (CPFs both in Tilenga and Kingfisher Oil fields, drilling of over 426 wells (200 water injector wells,196 oil producer wells, 2 polymer pilot wells and 28 reference wells) , a green oil refinery plant seated on 28 Sq km land in Kabaale-Hoima District and a 1443 km long heated oil and gas pipeline traversing the East african region from Uganda (hoima) to the Indian coast port of Tanga in Tanzania all violate national, regional and international laws ,guidelines and frameworks for biodiversity protection.
Ugandan law and regional African agreements including the Ugandan constitution Article 26 that gives land owners exclusive rights over their land until they are adequately compensated or resettled,
Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community: The EACOP project violates the spirit and letter of Articles 5 (3) (c), 8(1) (c), 111 (1) (b) & (d), 111 (1) & (2), and 114 (1) of the Treaty for the Establishment of The East African Community (EAC) on the protection of the environment. The above articles obligate the EAC partner states to mutually cooperate in the environmental field.
Protocol for Sustainable Development of Lake Victoria: Under Articles 4,5,12, 13 and 14 of the Protocol for Sustainable Development of Lake Victoria a 1999 regional requirement developed by Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda to fairly and effectively manage the resources of Lake Victoria.
Violating protected areas, such as World Heritage and Ramsar sites: For instance, EACOP’s proposed route will negatively impact a number of protected areas, including the Ngorongoro National Park, a World Heritage site, as well as the Murchison Falls-Albert Delta Wetland System, a designated Ramsar site
Violating the Paris Agreement: As a fossil fuel project with significant estimated emissions, EACOP will also violate the Paris Agreement, of which China, Tanzania, and Uganda have signed.
Violating the free, prior, informed consent rights and best practices of Indigenous and affected communities along the EACOP right of way.
Violating Chinese guidelines for Green Development in Overseas Investment and Cooperation which obligate Chinese companies to “to conduct environmental assessments and due diligence for a proposed project in accordance with international practices to identify potential environmental risks” as well as “push for prevention of ecological risks”.
Violating Chinese guidelines for Ecological Environmental Protection in Foreign Investment Cooperation and Construction Projects which obligates Chinese entities to conduct biodiversity surveys, and if high biodiversity risks are identified, the company must justify its decision for the project site and consider alternative locations(Article 6).
Lastly EACOP further violates China’s List of Sensitive Sectors for Overseas Investment, published in 2018 by China’s National Development and Reform Commission by affecting Lake Victoria and likely breeding potential for water use and management related conflicts between Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya and Democratic Republic of Congo over usage of transboundary water bodies of Victoria and L .Albert
And it is further important to note that due to the violation of local laws and international norms, any Chinese bank involved in EACOP would likely violate key Chinese bank regulatory policies, such as the 2012 Green Credit Guidelines, 2014 Key Performance Indicators on Green Credit and the new 2022 Green Finance Guidelines The implication of this is that any Chinese bank that is found to be connected to CPP and the EACOP project would also fail to comply with relevant Chinese bank policies.
Accordingly, all the above injustices justify why dirty energy fossils promotion in East Africa, in Africa and anywhere in the world should be fought at all cost.
The Writer works with National Association of Professional Environmentalists (NAPE) and also coordinates the Oil Watch Africa (OWA) in Uganda.
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