EU delegation to digest crude resolution in Business summit

By Elizabeth Ankunda

4^th Oct 2022

The European Union Commission in Uganda is set to fully address the matter of the European Union parliament resolution on the East African Crude Oil Pipeline Project, at the upcoming Uganda-EU business summit later this month.

Due to environmental and human rights issues, the European Union parliament resolved to call for a halt on the construction of the 1,445 kilometer pipeline, expected to transport crude oil from Kabaale, Hoima in western Uganda, to the Chongoleani peninsula along the Tanzanian coast on the Indian ocean.

This resolution over a 4-billion-dollar project which is expected to provide up to 15,000 construction jobs, and between 1,000 to 2,000 permanent ones, met a lot of criticism from different people, and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni vowed that the project will go on irrespective of the EU’s position.

Additionally, there have been numerous protests from different sections of Ugandan society, some of whom were school children in protest against the resolution. However, a number of environmental protection and human rights activists, as well as opposition politicians welcomed it.

Though from the onset the European union commissions in Uganda indicated the resolution as not binding, Carolyn Andreessen the head of cooperation at EU commission delegation in Uganda, told journalists at the Uganda media center that this issue will be fully covered along with any matters arising from it, come the 26th October business forum.

According to Andriansen, the European Union delegation is engaging the lead investors TotalEnergies and the government of Uganda, for proper due diligence over the project.