Activist released after ‘severe beatings’

An environmental activist in Uganda who is opposed to a huge oil project led by TotalEnergies has been freed after five days in detention. Stephen Kwikiriza was found dumped on a roadside in Kyenjojo, said Samuel Okulony, director of the Environment Governance Institute. The Premium Times reports that the activist said he was beaten by army officers before being treated in a Kampala hospital. ‘He is alive, is now safe, and is reconnecting with family. His condition is not good after having suffered severe beatings, mistreatment and abuse,’ Okulony said. A senior military officer on Monday confirmed Kwikiriza's detention. Okulony lauded ‘international pressure’ for the release of Kwikiriza. The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) described it as a ‘particularly worrying escalation of repression’. FIDH said 11 environmental activists ‘were kidnapped, arbitrarily arrested, detained or subjected to different forms of harassment by the Ugandan authorities’ between 27 May and 5 June. Human Rights Watch (HRW) had also voiced concern about Kwikiriza's disappearance. ‘The Ugandan Government needs to end its harassment of opponents of oil development in the country, such as the East African Crude Oil Pipeline Project,’ said Myrto Tilianaki, senior environmental rights advocate at HRW.

The Premium Times notes that the French giant signed an agreement with the China National Offshore Oil Corporation in 2022 to develop Ugandan oil fields and ship the crude via a 1 445km pipeline to Tanzania's Indian Ocean port of Tanga. President Yoweri Museveni has regularly praised the oil project as an economic boon for the landlocked country. The first oil is expected to flow in 2025 – almost two decades after the reserves were discovered in Lake Albert in northwestern Uganda. Environmental groups say the project is having dire consequences for local communities and the environment in an area of rich biodiversity.