March 6, 2025 – Kampala
Eleven student/activists from Students Against the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) have been released from a jail in Uganda today, following a series of protests against the construction of this massive new fossil fuel pipeline.
On February 26th, the students were arrested and detained during a march to the European Union’s embassy in Kampala. The students were en route to deliver a petition to the Ambassador of the European Union, Jean Sadek, calling for intervention to halt EACOP’s construction.
The proposed EACOP is a 1,443-kilometer (nearly 900-mile) pipeline that would connect the oilfields in western Uganda with the port of Tanga in eastern Tanzania. The crude oil will be transported to refineries in the Netherlands. The proposed pipeline, which would move over 230,000 oil barrels each day, has experienced strong opposition in Uganda, Tanzania, and Europe over human rights and environmental concerns.
As local oppposition to the pipeline’s construction has surged over the last three years, Ugandans have witnessed a series of legal reprisals for non-violent protest against EACOP’s construction.
Full article here.