Uganda: Oil operations in Kingfisher area allegedly accompanied by forced evictions and military abuse of local communities
Oil operations in Uganda's Kingfisher Development Area are facing allegations of being accompanied by human rights abuses against local communities by military forces guarding the project. Residents report that soldiers from the Uganda People's Defence Force (UPDF), who are guarding CNOOC's oil facilities, have been forcibly evicting families and subjecting villagers to violence, arbitrary detention and sexual abuse.
Witness testimonies gathered by Just Finance International (JFI) detail assaults on resisting fishermen, sexual violence against females including some allegedly under 18, and detentions without food. Many residents have reportedly fled due to the abuse, while some remaining say they had to accept low-paid labor for CNOOC. The company has allegedly failed to act on repeated community complaints.
In April 2024, the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited the following companies mentioned in the report to respond to the allegation:
- Operator: CNOOC Uganda Limited
- Shareholders: TotalEnergies EP Uganda, CNOOC Uganda Limited, Uganda National Oil Company
- Ten biggest investors/underwriters in CNOOC: Bank of China, China International Capital Corporation, CITIC China, China Development Bank, Citigroup, Agricultural bank of China, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, and HSBC
Citigroup provided a response, the other companies did not.