KAMPALA_UGANDA/NEWSDAY: President Yoweri Museveni has snubbed the European Union Parliament that resolved to delay Uganda’s oil Pipeline for at least one year.
Museveni said in a tweet last evening, while indirectly hinting at legal action, that even if Total chooses to pull out, the oil pipeline construction project will go on.
“We should remember that Total Energies convinced me about the Pipeline idea; if they choose to listen to the EU Parliament, we shall find someone else to work with,” Museveni wrote on tweeter saluting deputy speaker Thomas Tayebwa who lambasted the EU MPs for playing neo-colonialism games.
“Either way, we shall have our oil coming out by 2025 as planned. So, the people of Uganda should not worry. The remarks of the Deputy Speaker and the Attorney General (Kiwanuka Kiryoowa) in one of the dailies concerning the EU Parliament and EACOP interested me in making some comments of reassurance to our people,” Museveni tweeted.
He assured Ugandans that the project, a stretch of 1,443 kilometres shall proceed “as stipulated in the contract we have with TotalEnergies and CNOOC.”
The European Union (EU) lawmakers on Thursday voted by a majority of 334 to pass the resolution that seeks to compel Uganda, Tanzania and the Total Energies SE to delay development of the proposed East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) for at least one year.
They cited environmental concerns and other issues including human rights abuses. The EU said more than 100,000 people were at risk of being displaced by the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) and called for them to be adequately compensated.
An Environmental group Friends of the Earth France, one of those that petitioned EU welcomed the MEPs’ stance.
“It sends a strong political message against the Tilenga and EACOP projects, whose human, environmental and climate costs are undeniable and simply unacceptable,” senior campaigner Juliette Renaud said in a statement.
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