TotalEnergies launches an evaluation of its expropriation campaign for its oil projects in Uganda and Tanzania

TotalEnergies will launch an "evaluation mission" on the program of expropriations carried out for its oil megaprojects in Uganda and Tanzania, which are hotly contested by environmental and human rights associations.

The French group announced Thursday that it had chosen "Lionel Zinsou, a personality recognized for his expertise in the economic development of Africa" to lead this "evaluation mission of the land acquisition program carried out in Uganda and Tanzania".

Aged 70, the former Prime Minister of Benin in 2015-2016, has "already collaborated" with TotalEnergies "on economic development issues", via his consulting company dedicated to Africa. Its report is expected “by April,” the statement said.

"While the land acquisition process is now coming to an end, this mission will evaluate the procedures (...) implemented, the conditions of consultation, compensation and relocation of populations as well as the treatment process grievances", specifies the company.

“It will also evaluate the actions carried out by TotalEnergies EP Uganda and the company EACOP (East African Crude Oil Pipeline) to contribute to improving the living conditions of the people concerned (...) and will propose, if necessary, additional actions ".

According to TotalEnergies, the expropriation program covering approximately 6.400 hectares and carried out on behalf of the two countries "concerns 19.140 households and communities that own or use plots and includes the relocation of 775 main residences". To date, 97% of affected households have received compensation and 98% of households to be relocated have a new home, according to the group.

This mission is a way for the oil giant to respond to criticism surrounding the project, which was the subject of a $10 billion investment agreement with Uganda, Tanzania and the Chinese company CNOOC.

Having become a media symbol of the fight against fossil fuels largely responsible for global warming, it arouses strong opposition from environmental defense groups, for whom it threatens the fragile ecosystem of the region and the populations.

According to Friends of the Earth and other associations, more than 118.000 people are affected by total or partial expropriations.

“Not for our image”

The project includes the drilling of 419 wells (Tilenga project) in the Murchison Falls Natural Park - a remarkable biodiversity reserve located in western Uganda - as well as the construction of a 1.443 kilometer heated oil pipeline (EACOP) connecting deposits, from Lake Albert to the Tanzanian coast on the Indian Ocean.

Already, in a project in Mozambique suspended in 2021 after a jihadist attack and also contested, TotalEnergies had entrusted the writer and former NGO manager Jean-Christophe Rufin with an assessment of the humanitarian and security situation before any resumption.

The process leaves Friends of the Earth "skeptical", who see it as a way for the group to defend itself in the face of justice. “They try to have names that can help whitewash their image, but we must see concretely beyond the personality, what is their expertise on these issues and what evaluation methodology is used,” reacted Juliette Renaud, campaign manager of the NGO which, along with other associations, is leading the legal fight against the EACOP/Tilenga project.

“We are doing this for the populations concerned, not +for our image+”, we want to emphasize to TotalEnergies.

In May, in an interview with Challenges, the CEO of TotalEnergies Patrick Pouyanné himself recognized failures in the handling of the file: "we were not very good. We did not know how to anticipate", he said. admitted, explaining that “these relocation issues should have been managed upstream”.

After appeals rejected in February 2023 in France and in November before the East African Court of Justice, two appeals remain active in France.

In June, 26 Ugandans and five associations (AFIEGO, Friends of the Earth France, NAPE/Friends of the Earth Uganda, Survival and TASHA Research Institute) launched a new civil action in Paris to demand "reparation" for various damages: expropriations abusive, insufficient compensation, harassment...

The associations Darwin Climax Coalitions, Sea Shepherd France, Wild Legal and Stop EACOP-Stop Total in Uganda also filed a criminal complaint on September 22 in Nanterre on the climate responsibility of TotalEnergies, targeting EACOP/Tilenga and more broadly its oil and gas investments. .