By Caroline Chebet
Police in northwestern Tanzania have arrested four villagers in Hanang District, after they criticized a controversial oil pipeline being built through the area, in what activists say is just the latest instance of harassment of critics of the project.
Gabrieli Daudi, Tiofili Israeli, Marseli Martini and Kamili Fabiano were arrested on June 2 after publicly sharing their grievances over the negative impacts of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) at a press conference organized by Ugandan and Tanzanian civil society groups on Africa Day, May 25. A fifth person from Hanang District, community leader Damiano Malle, also spoke at that event but was not arrested. The four were released without charge after a night in detention.
“They were arrested because they spoke to the media about their dissatisfaction with compensation of the project-affected persons [PAPs],” Richard Senkondo, executive director of the Dar es Salaam-based Organization for Community Engagement (OCE), told Mongabay. “They were also expressing concerns over additional lands being taken away from them without agreements, and harassment by Tanzanian police.”
Pain along the pipeline
EACOP is a 1,440-kilometer (895-mile) pipeline under construction from the shores of Lake Albert in Uganda to the Tanzanian port of Tanga. Its opponents argue that the pipeline violates national and international laws protecting human rights and the environment, campaigning against it both in its host countries and internationally.
Pipeline project subcontractors purchased a strip of land that cuts through the middle of Elizabeth Ayebare’s family’s farm in 2018, but never compensated them as promised. Image courtesy of Thomas Lewton.
More than 100,000 people have permanently lost land to make way for the pipeline and the Tilenga oilfield it’s being built to serve. A 2023 report by Human Rights Watch documented widespread problems with compensation, including pressure to accept inadequate amounts and years-long delays in paying compensation, often leaving affected households crippled with debt.
“Before our land was taken for the CPF [central processing facility at Tilenga], we used to grow cassava, groundnuts, and maize. This is what I grew my 11 children and my 30 grandchildren on. Now that land is all gone,” one 79-year-old woman, who lost 2.2 hectares (5.4 acres), told HRW interviewers. Other affected families said their compensation wouldn’t be enough to clear their debts.
Last year, faith-based climate justice group GreenFaith reported that TotalEnergies, the French oil giant leading construction of the pipeline, had disturbed and disrespected more than 2,000 graves in spite of residents’ efforts to alert the company to their presence.
EACOP crosses seven forest reserves, two game reserves and a wildlife management area. It will impact nearly 2,000 square kilometers (770 square miles) of protected habitat. For long stretches, the pipeline runs alongside Lake Victoria, a critical source of water for 40 million people.
At its peak level of production, the oil exported through the pipeline will produce 34 million additional metric tons of carbon emissions per year, violating the Paris Agreement commitments of both Uganda and Tanzania.
Thousands of families along the EACOP’s 1,440-kilometer (895-mile) route have lost all or part of their land.
The most recent arrests are part of a pattern of repressing legitimate complaints by those directly affected by pipeline, campaigners say. Senkondo said other people from communities affected by the project were arrested in March. They, too, were released without charges. “They were then compelled to travel for over 70 kilometers [43 mi] every two days to report to the police station.”
As this story went to publication on June 7, the four villagers were waiting for police to summon them to appear for further questioning. Pasience Mlowe, a lawyer for the men, said they were being denied their right to information, movement and privacy without justification.
“It is high time for the authority to respect the rights of its citizens over the company’s exploitation on land rights,” she told Mongabay by phone. “[Project-affected persons] must be given the right to be heard as principle of natural justice required under the Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania, 1977, specifically Article 13.”
Senkondo said activists are also facing harassment by the Tanzanian authorities. “Everyone who is currently speaking against the project is facing harassment. I addressed the media about the dangers posed by the project to communities last year during COP27 in Dubai and was summoned by the police as soon as I landed back in Tanzania.”
Banner image: Organization for Community Engagement director Richard Senkondo (l) and fellow activists at press conference in Dar es Salaam on May 25, 2024. Image courtesy Organization for Community Engagement.
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This article was originally published on Mongabay
