“We are peaceful! Why are you beating me? You are stepping on my neck. My brother, you are killing me because of Chinese!” these were the cries of an activist as the police bundled him on its patrol vehicle this afternoon as it violently arrested several activists who had gathered at the Chinese embassy to deliver a protest note to the ambassador.
The over one hundred protesters who had placards and manila paper with several messages against the construction of the East African Crude oil pipeline (EACOP) were whisked away from the scene after about an hour of protest say that the project is an environmental hazard and a conduit of human rights violations in the Albertine area.
Thirty-three (33) of them have been arrested and detained at Jinja road police station.
There have been several reports of environmental destruction, human rights violations like rape, land grabbing and dispossession of cultural sites in the Albertine area.
The Chinese recently came to the rescue of the project after several western banks and insurance companies refused to raise the money to fund the project.
TotalEnergies, the biggest shareholder in the EACOP company came under political and legal opposition in Europe and financial institutions shunned funding it.
This is the second protest in a month at the Chinese Embassy by the anti-EACOP activists. On March 27, 2024, the same group held a demonstration at the embassy and were arrested, following their presser that called on Xi to distance himself from environmental and human rights violations in Uganda.
The EACOP Ltd is a private limited company in the United Kingdom (UK). It is a joint venture amongst Total Energies as the major shareholder with 62%, Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) and Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC) owning 15% each, and CNOOC with 8% shares. The company intends to construct a 1445km pipeline that will transport crude oil from Hoima in Uganda to Tanga in Tanzania.
