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The planned pipeline to export oil from Uganda is being opposed by Bobi Wine, the young charismatic opposition leader, who lost to President Museveni in the last election
The planned pipeline to export oil from Uganda is being opposed by Bobi Wine, the young charismatic opposition leader, who lost to President Museveni in the last election.
Wine, a singer and former lawmaker who ran for president in 2021 is the most prominent Ugandan to object to the East African Crude Oil Pipeline. He is supported by activists in putting pressure on France’s TotalEnergies and its Chinese partner to pull out.
The European Union legislature passed a resolution last month urging TotalEnergies to delay work on the pipeline by at least a year. The EU expressed fears about the possible violations and environmental degradation because of the project.
Campaigners say the 897-mile (1,443-kilometer) heated pipeline that links oil fields in western Uganda to neighbouring Tanzania’s Indian Ocean port of Tanga, violates the spirit of the Paris climate accord. They are urging the EU to stop funding the project.
Wine said last month that he supported the EU Parliament’s stance. While doing so, he drew anger from some who charged that he was not sufficiently patriotic. Wine denied the charges and asserted that Museveni would be “dangerous” with oil wealth at his disposal. He also noted that the forced displacement of villagers to make way for the pipeline would mirror his own mistreatment as a political activist.
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The oil pipeline is a sensitive issue for Museveni. He believes petrodollars will lift many of the country’s 45 million people out of poverty. Uganda is estimated to have recoverable oil reserves of at least 1.4 billion barrels. TotalEnergies and the China National Offshore Oil Corporation would be investing more than US$10 billion.
