On August 10, 2021, sixteen members of Paten Clan, a community in Pakwach District in northern Uganda, were shot at and wounded by local police and army officers, reportedly in retaliation for their opposition to the Wadelai irrigation project. This is constructed by the Ugandan company Coil Construction Company Limited and co-sponsored by the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Nordic Development Fund (NDF). Other community members and local human rights defenders were criminalised following the protests, and the local human rights organisation Buliisa Rural Initiative for Development (BIRUDO) was also suspended.