Civil Society Groups Urge DRC and Uganda to Resolve Border Impasse in the Oil-Rich Albertine Rift

KAMPALA, Uganda—Civil society groups and local communities along the Albertine Rift have called upon the governments of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to be transparent in any negotiations they undertake and involve local communities and other interest groups for equitable gains from the oil extraction.

In a joint communiqué issued at the end of a high-level regional policy forum organized by the Africa Institute for Energy Governance (AFIEGO) in Kampala, the Ugandan capital, participants from Uganda, DRC, Nigeria, South Africa and others appealed to the two governments to move fast to conclusively address existing national governance gaps as well as cross border conflicts that have been triggered by the discovery of oil in the Albertine Rift.

“The two governments should be transparent and provide information to their citizens and allow the citizens to participate in all national decisionmaking processes as way to seal all avenues of conflict with both the central Government and local governments; and between the two governments on how to extract and equitably utilize the proceeds from oil,” says Dickens Kamugisha, the Executive Director, AFIEGO.

The one-day conference supported by the Open Society Initiative of East Africa (OSIEA) provided an opportunity for different interest groups to consult and share information on oil resource management and governance.

Persistent hostility between Uganda and DRC is a big obstacle to national and regional democratization and stability. The hostility was mainly exacerbated by the 1996-2001 Uganda’s invasion of DRC Congo in what the Ugandan government termed as ‘hot pursuit’ of rebel dissidents of Allied Democratic Forces (ADF). The invasion triggered a full-scale regional war drawing the involvement of countries like Rwanda, Angola, Burundi and Zimbabwe claiming the lives of up to 5 million people.

Since the discovery of oil, the conflict between the two countries revolves around the undetermined borders and the ownership of the strategic Island of Rukwazi, located in the oil rich southern Tip of Lake Albert. At least 10 people from both Uganda and DRC have been killed in border skirmishes triggered by discontent over increased oil exploration activities on the Ugandan side of the lake Albertine Rift.

The insecurity is blamed on the absence of strong institutions as well as weak national and regional governance institutions to address cross boarder issues including oil exploration and production. The two governments have also excluded local communities and other interest groups in the ongoing joint security commissions, oil agreements negotiations, and other socioeconomic initiatives.

Uganda’s resolve to go ahead with the Early Production Scheme (EPS) by the end of 2009, despite lack of serious oil exploration activities on the Congolese side, has created a lot of suspicion between the two neighbors. Early this year, Congo accused Tullow Oil of enlisting the support of the Congolese army to violate its borders.

Participants also noted that local communities and other interest groups in the oil regions and other parts of Uganda did not effectively participate in the drafting of Uganda’s Oil and Gas Policy, 2008, and government has declined to reveal information contained in the Production Sharing Agreements (PSAs) signed with oil companies citing confidentiality clauses. This is a big obstacle to good governance and national democratization of natural resource exploitation for sustainable development.

The communities are concerned that without access to information, and active participation, oil companies may come up with unfair profit margins at the expense of the nationals, as has happened in other oil-producing African countries. They want the government to openly discuss with them the procedure for compensation, plans for community development and environmental conservation strategies.

The groups are appealing to the government of Uganda to do the following before commencing the extraction process:

1. Publish the Production Sharing Agreements, including the total cost of the Early Production Scheme and the Environmental Impact Assessment information on the Albertine Rift oil.
2. First strengthen the legal, policy, and institutional framework before commencing the oil extraction, as these are the most fundamental factors for ensuring revenue transparency and accountability in any country.
3. Take advantage of, adopt, and implement the existing international resource governance initiatives such as the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) for the benefit of her young oil industry. EITI provides for revenue information openness that allows the public to access the necessary information with which it arms itself to hold governments and oil companies accountable for each decision taken on its behalf in the utilization and management of revenues generated from the exploitation of extractive resources.
4. Ensure that public policy decisions on oil governance are just, equitable, and do not impact disproportionately and negatively on different sections of the public or on its neighbors. This requires the government to involve the public in all the oil processes in the country.
5. Avail necessary information including the PSAs, licenses, concessions and others to the public to encourage effective public participation and facilitate non governmental organizations and other interest groups to participate in all the initiatives for effective oil resource management for transparency and accountability and therefore social and economic development.

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