Oil companies, security agencies warned against kidnapping human rights activists
He expressed shock, calling for accountability for all those involved.
Hoima: The Executive Director of the National Association of Professional Environmentalists (NAPE), Frank Muramuzi, has expressed dismay over the kidnapping of human rights activist Stephen Kwiriza, a resident of Nsunzu village, Buhuka Parish, Kyangwali Sub County, Kikuube district.
Kwikiriza, a member of the Kingfisher Community that hosts Kingfisher oil fields developed by the Chinese National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC), was kidnapped in Kampala on June 4th under unknown circumstances only to be found abandoned on the roadside in Kyenjojo district, western Uganda, on June 9th, in bad health after enduring beatings, mistreatment, and abuse throughout the week.
Muramuzi attributes the abduction to Kwikiriza’s revenge for speaking out against human rights abuses due to the oil and gas projects.
He believes that oil and gas companies and government security organs have a hand in Kwikiria’s kidnapping since he had previously received threats from Uganda’s People’s Defense Forces deployed in Kingfisher.
Muramuzi expressed shock, calling for accountability for all those involved.
“What kind of country is this where citizens are abused in broad daylight by foreign corporations in the name of mining oil and stealing their land, and you expect these oil host communities to just look on? Stand warned, and know that people don’t eat your oil. You found them living peaceful, sustainable lives without your oil, and the time is ripe for you to pack your bags and take back these evils to your homes,” noted Muramuzi.
Muramuzi expressed disappointment that it’s only in Uganda where citizens live in displaced people’s camps, even when there is no war.
“Let these stop; otherwise, enough is enough! We shall follow oil companies even to their own home governments so that they pay for the evils they have inflicted on oil-host communities. Total Energies, the French oil giant, and CNOOC, backed by security agencies and land speculators, are grabbing people’s land, displacing thousands, degrading key ecosystem resources, and abusing their rights through kidnaps and illegal arrests, but they want affected communities to sit and watch!” added Muramuzi.
He said oil and gas, wherever it has been exploited, has left host communities in tears, giving examples of host communities now in the Albertine Oil Rift, communities along the East African crude oil people (EACOP), communities in the Lake Turkana oil belt of Kenya, communities in the Niger state of Nigeria, communities in the Amazon-Ecuador, communities in South Sudan, Sudan, Libya, and Ghana, among others.
He said extractive industry is irrelevant in the current age of worsening climate change, noting that it should be fought at all costs, not only by civil society but by every citizen in the country.
The abduction of Kwikiria is in addition to other patterns of arbitrary arrests against environmental and human rights activists speaking out against human rights abuses and threats to the environment due to oil projects in Uganda.
On May 27th, eight EACOP activists were arrested outside the Chinese Embassy in Kampala for holding a peaceful demonstration calling on China to stop plans to support the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP).
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