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Museveni invites Kabila to join pipeline project

Sunday August 28 2016
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Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni (right) holds to the arm of Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila as they step on a podium for a welcoming ceremony on August 4, 2016 in Mpondwe on the border between DRC and Uganda. AFP PHOTO | KUDRA MALIRO

President Yoweri Museveni’s recent invitation to his Congolese counterpart Joseph Kabila for collaboration over exploitation of oil resources in transboundary areas renewed concerns among environmentalists that the leaders may look more to money and politics over critical environmental concerns.

It has emerged that a meeting between presidents Museveni and Kabila at the Mweya Safari Lodge in Uganda’s border district of Kasese tackled more than what has been officially acknowledged.

It is understood that President Kabila, facing tough times in his push to change the constitution so he can hang onto power after the expiry of his current term, sought the meeting in a bid to win over critical Kampala support.

READ: DR Congo's Kabila counts on Rwanda, Uganda backing to retain power

But away from political discussions, The EastAfrican is privy to information that President Museveni, who has already struck a deal with Tanzania to build an export pipeline for crude oil from Hoima to the port of Tanga, urged Kabila, whose country shares the same basin as Uganda’s discovered reserves, to consider joint economic activities.

Congo’s collaboration could come in handy especially as the mineral rich country could be expected to bring in critically needed financial resources in joint exploration.

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Uganda’s State Minister for foreign affairs in charge of International Relations Henry Okello Oryem confirmed to The EastAfrican that President Museveni invited his Congolese counterpart to join the joint exploitation initiatives currently being advanced by Kampala and Dar es Salaam.

But environmentalists now warn that any such collaborations should not be allowed to over ride environmental concerns that are supported by the Ramsar Convention.

Twenty eight regional non-profit organisations in Congo and Uganda involved in environmental and natural resources advocacy have instead urged Kinshasa and Kampala to prioritise other equally, if not more viable economic ventures.

These, they say, have a longer lasting return on both capital and social investment and less negative impact on the already fragile ecology in the marked area of exploration.

“Oil exploitation is certainly one of the engines that can boost the economy of any country but tourism contributes as much and has even proved transformative to the economic growth of countries,” the NGOs said in a joint statement.

“At a time when the fight against global warming is at the highest level of the community locally, nationally and internationally, it would be paradoxical to carry out polluting activities in or around [an] already very fragile ecosystem,” they added.

However, the likelihood is high that both governments will ignore the NGOs and the frontline communities which face the potential harm associated with oil exploration in ecologically delicate areas.

As analysts have noted, in the debate between conservation and development, governments tend to prefer the latter. This is in spite of their recognition of the importance of protecting the environment.

As recent as June 23, 2016, for instance, President Museveni at his first Cabinet meeting of his fifth term emphasised the protection of the environment saying, “our great grandchildren will curse us” for not doing so.

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