On Tuesday, The Appellate Division of the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) accepted the appeal and asked the activists to file written submissions by March 22, 2024.
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EACOP Security Cordinator, David Francis Muramuzi, at a site where the CNOOC has placed its pipes that will fedd into EACOP. The pipleines will be burried almost two meters underground
The East African Court Of Justice
has asked activist groups to file a written submission in an appeal seeking to
overturn a ruling that sought to block the construction of the East Africa
Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) project.
The regional court sitting in
Arusha in November 2023 threw out a case in which activist groups including the
African Centre for Energy Governance (AFIEGO) had filed the pipeline project
between Uganda and Tanzania.
The Court then ruled that it had
no jurisdiction to hear the case by AFIEGO and others because the case was
filed too late or out of time.
But AFEIGO, Center for Food and
Adequate Living Rights (CEFROHT)-Uganda, Natural Justice (NJ)-Kenya, and Centre
for Strategic Litigation (CSL)-Tanzania, appealed against the ruling in a case
they had filed in November 2020.
On
Tuesday, The Appellate Division of the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) accepted
the appeal and asked the activists to file written submissions by March 22,
2024.
The
court also asked the governments of Uganda and Tanzania as well as the
Secretary General of the East African Community (EAC) who are the respondents
in the case, to file their counterarguments by April 22, 2024.
AFEIGO
and others argued that the EACOP violates key East African and international
treaties and laws including the East African Community (EAC) Treaty, Protocol
for Sustainable Development of the Lake Victoria basin, Convention on
Biological Diversity and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change. Others include the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights as well
as the African Convention on Conservation of Natural Resources among others.
The
Court also ordered the activists to file any rejoinders to the counter-arguments
to be submitted by the governments of Uganda and Tanzania as well as the EAC
Secretary General by May 6, 2024.
AFIEGO’s Chief Executive Officer, Dickens
Kamugisha in an interview said that they are happy that the court has set in motion
processes to ensure that justice is served for the benefit of communities.
“Communities
and East Africans in general rely on their natural and other resources to make
a living and any projects such as the EACOP that threaten these resources
should be challenged. Those challenging harmful projects should be supported by
East Africans and other people of goodwill,” he said
Meanwhile,
Farida Aliwa, the Executive Director of Natural Justice said they look forward
to getting back to the court in a month with our detailed written submissions.
“We
are committed to protect both the environment and the well-being of the people
in East Africa. We believe our submissions will help the court understand the
environmental impact of the pipeline” said Aliwa
She
said they want the court to recognize how the pipeline affects the environment
and the delicate ecological balance we work hard to maintain.
“We
are determined to present our case and support the sustainable future of East
Africa,” she added.
The
East African Crude Oil Pipeline (Eacop) is a 1,443-kilometre (900mile) heated
pipeline that will run from the oilfields in Lake Albert in Northwestern Uganda
to Tanzania's Indian Ocean port of Tanga.
Uganda
and Tanzania have persistently denied that the EACOP project which is to cost
about $5 billion to construct will not have any adverse effects on the
environment as suggested by environmental and human rights activist groups.
Background to the petition
On
November 6, 2020, four civil society entities from Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania filed
a court case against some of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) project
at East African Court of Justice (EACJ).The applicants are Centre for Food and Adequate Living Rights (CEFROHT)-Uganda,
Africa Institute for Energy Governance (AFIEGO) from Uganda, Natural Justice from
Kenya and Centre for Strategic Litigation from Tanzania.
The case was filed against the governments of Uganda and Tanzania as well as
the Secretary
General of the East African Community (EAC). In the case, the applicants argue that, among other things, the EACOP project contravenes
the EAC Treaty, Protocol for Sustainable Development of the Lake Victoria
basin, Convention on Biological Diversity and the United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change.
