Anti-riot police officers beg oil protesters to stop
The EU parliament said the Ugandan oil projects are a threat to the environment and social life of Ugandans.
Ugandans unhappy with the European Union Parliament resolution advising Uganda to stop plans to extract its 6.2bn barrels of crude oil in Albertine Graben demonstrated outside offices of the European Union in Kampala.
The protestors carrying placards with varying messages demanded that the European Union respects Uganda’s independence and let it extract its petroleum resources without any interference.
Uncharacteristic of how police usually handle demonstrations and protesters, this time, the men in uniform were humble and begged the protesters to hand over the placards and to vacant the streets.
Armed with the Public Order Management Act, the police uses extreme force, teargas and brutal arrests to quell such protests.
Last week, the European Parliament passed a resolution that seeks TotalEnergies the oil company from France developing oil fields in western Uganda to abandon its ambitious investment in Uganda.
The EU parliament said the Ugandan oil projects are a threat to the environment and social well-being of Ugandans.
This irked the Ugandan leadership with President Yoweri Museveni assuring the Europeans that with or without them, Uganda will dig up it’s oil and gas.
The speaker of Uganda’s parliament said what the European parliament did was akin to economic neo-colonialism.
Since the resolution in Europe, a debate regarding the sustainability of Uganda’s oil projects has fiercely sprung up.
Activists are worried that the corrupt government in Uganda cannot guarantee environmental safety.
