Both ENDS

News / 24 oktober 2021

6 members of Ugandan organisation AFIEGO illegally arrested

On Friday October 22nd, six staff members of our partner organisation Africa Institute of Energy Governance (AFIEGO), including its director Dickens Kamugisha, were arrested in Kampala, Uganda. AFIEGO is one of four Ugandan organisations involved in several legal cases against the oil project, including the one against TotalEnergies in France and in the East African Court of Justice.

This is not the first time that staff members of AFIEGO have been arrested; these new arrests are part of a pattern of harassment and persecution of AFIEGO by the Ugandan
authorities. Known for its activities in defence of human rights and the environment, notably against Total's mega-oil project, AFIEGO is one of 54 NGOs whose suspension was announced by the NGO Bureau  on 20 August, in a context of increasing repression of civil society.

For many years, Both ENDS has been supporting AFIEGO in their continuous work to defend human and environmental rights in Uganda, among others in the struggle against the EACOP pipeline. We are shocked that our long-standing partners have been arrested and, like many other partner organisations, we demand their immediate release.

More information

Click here for the whole statement, signed by 100 organisations

Click here to sign the petition (on organisational level)

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