Human Rights Watch Accuses Uganda of Intensifying Crackdown on Anti-EACOP Activists.

November 23, 2025 Hafswa Nalwoga

Human Rights Watch Accuses Uganda of Intensifying Crackdown on Anti-EACOP Activists. Arrests, surveillance and intimidation reported as government pushes forward with the East African Crude Oil Pipeline.

Kampala, Uganda

A new Human Rights Watch (HRW) report has accused the Ugandan government of escalating a campaign of harassment, surveillance and arbitrary arrests targeting students, environmental defenders and community organizers opposed to the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP).

The 75-page report — based on interviews with activists, lawyers, university students and civil-society groups — states that the crackdown intensified over the last six months as Uganda accelerated land acquisition and construction along key pipeline sections.

HRW alleges that activists have been:

detained without charge

threatened by security officials

banned from holding campus meetings

placed under digital surveillance

interrogated about foreign funding

One university student, whose name HRW withheld for safety, said:
“They arrested us for distributing leaflets. We were held overnight and told never to speak about the pipeline again.”

The Ugandan government has dismissed the report as “false and politically motivated.”

Former Government spokesperson Ofwono Opondo told The Urban Gazette:
“Uganda will not tolerate illegal demonstrations funded by foreign interests. Law-abiding citizens have nothing to fear.”

But civil-society groups say the crackdown is real.

“This is not about security. It’s about silencing voices that question the environmental and human-rights risks of EACOP,” said Diana Nabiruma of the Africa Institute for Energy Governance (AFIEGO).

The 1,443-km pipeline — jointly developed by TotalEnergies and CNOOC — will transport crude oil from Hoima to the Tanzanian coast. Supporters say the project will transform Uganda’s economy; critics warn it threatens communities, wetlands and Lake Victoria.

According to HRW, at least 33 activists have been arrested in the last nine months alone.

Energy Ministry officials argue that protests disrupt “lawful national development projects,” insisting that the pipeline has undergone all required environmental assessments.

However, international pressure is increasing. Several global banks and insurers have already declined to fund EACOP, citing environmental and human-rights concerns.

“The world is watching how Uganda handles dissent,” said political scientist Dr. Sarah Nanyonjo. “Repression could undermine investment as much as instability would.”