The East African Crude Oil Pipeline under construction in Uganda. EACOP Ltd
Four Ugandan farmers have launched a suit in the U.K. High Court against a controversial oil pipeline being built in East Africa. The suit is a last-ditch effort to halt the project before it goes online in October.
When completed, the East African Crude Oil Pipeline, or EACOP, will ship crude oil 900 miles from the Great Lakes region in Uganda to the Tanzanian coast. Campaigners say the project, spearheaded by French oil giant TotalEnergies, threatens to contaminate vital freshwater and harm wildlife.
The pipeline route crosses some 230 rivers and, together with its feeder pipelines, cuts through 44 protected areas, Yale Environment 360 recently reported. Its construction has also uprooted thousands of people.
EACOP is set for completion despite a lengthy campaign that rallied major banks and insurers against it, and despite revelations of the intimidation and abuse of those living in its path.
The four farmers bringing the lawsuit were among those whose land was acquired to build EACOP. One of the claimants, Samuel Abedilembe, said he was poorly compensated for holdings purchased for the project. “I now have less land to cultivate and grow enough food to support my family,” he said in a press conference. “Our land is our life. Without it, we have nowhere to go.”
The suit, filed this week by British law firm Leigh Day, was brought against EACOP Ltd, the company created to oversee the project, which is registered in the U.K. The lawsuit alleges that EACOP violates the laws and constitution of Uganda, including the right to a healthy environment, The Independent reports.
Marc Willers, one of the lawyers advising the farmers, said the suit is the first attempt to apply Ugandan law to a British company in a U.K. court. The goal of the lawsuit, he said in a press conference, “is to stop the operation of the pipeline in its tracks.”
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