Environmentalists Outraged Over French/Chinese Oil Project in Uganda and Tanzania

 The New York Times published on 14 March 2023 a feature article titled "An Oil Rush Threatens National Splendors Across East Africa" by Abdi Latif Dahir with numerous photographs by Arlette Bashizi. 

A multibillion-dollar oil drilling and pipeline project is displacing thousands of people in Uganda and Tanzania, and ravaging wildlife habitat.  The oil drilling, which is already underway, occurs along Lake Albert in Uganda.  The pipeline will go south from Lake Albert through Uganda and then continue the length of Tanzania through game parks to the Indian Ocean port of Tanga.  France's TotalEnergies and China National Offshore Oil Corporation are managing the project.   

Concerns about East African Crude Oil Pipeline

 The Africa Institute for Energy Governance and Inclusive Development International published in June 2022 a report titled "Assessment of East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) and Associated Facilities' Compliance with Equator Principles and IFC Performance Standards."

The Tilenga and Kingfisher oil fields are located onshore on the eastern perimeter of the Lake Albert basin, which lies on the border of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  Most of the oil lifted from these fields would be transported via the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) for export through Tanzania's port of Tanga.  A French-led consortium, TotalEnergies, operates the Tilenga oil field while the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) operates the Kingfisher field.  TotalEnergies owns 62 percent of EACOP and CNOOC owns 8 percent.  The Ugandan and Tanzanian national oil companies own the remaining 30 percent.  

The report concludes that the EACOP project and its associated oil fields fail to comply with the Equator Principles and IFC Performance Standards in a variety of ways.  These include major shortcomings in the project's consultation processes, impact assessments and risk management plans, severe and unmitigated risks associated with the improper handling of hazardous waste and oil spills contaminating critical water supplies, the continuing threats and unlawful retaliation against human rights defenders, environmentalists and community leaders that express concern with or disapproval of the project.  The report argues the projects will also result in extensive and irreversible damage within Murchison Falls National Park and numerous other protected areas. 

China's Bauxite Deal with Ghana Encounters Environmental Opposition

Peace FM Online posted on 15 January 2020 an article titled "A Rocha Ghana, 20 CSOs Sue Ghana Gov't over Atewa Bauxite Mining."

The government of Ghana entered into a barter agreement with China to mine Ghana's bauxite in the Atewa forest reserve in exchange for $2 billion in infrastructure development. An environmental protection group, A Rocha Ghana, and 20 civil society groups have sued the government of Ghana in an attempt to stop it from allowing the Atewa forest reserve to be mined for bauxite.

China-Africa Website

Another website with excellent research on China-Africa issues is the Centre for Chinese Studies at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. Click here to access the home page.

Recent additions to the website include a lengthy study titled "The Challenge in Conservation of Biodiversity: Regulation of National Parks in China and South Africa in Comparison" by Meryl Burgess, a research analyst at the Centre. The study notes that both China and South Africa are rich in biodiversity, which is threatened by natural causes and human factors. The study looks at the way China and South Africa have attempted to regulate and manage national parks. Click here to access the study.

The website has two recent short pieces by Daouda Cisse, a research fellow at the Centre. The first one is titled "The Malian Crisis--China's Reaction Capacity at a Test Again?" Click here to read the commentary. The second one is titled "Banking with China." Click here to read the commentary.