In a crushing legal blow, the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) has dismissed a landmark appeal against the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) on a narrow procedural ground, shutting the case before any evidence of human rights abuses or environmental damage could be heard.
The ruling, delivered Wednesday, blocks a legal challenge brought by four East African civil society organizations and denies thousands of affected families their day in court. The judges ruled the case was filed outside a 60-day time limit, despite acknowledging that key project agreements were kept from the public for years after they were signed.
“By refusing to hear this case, the Court has turned its back on families already harmed by EACOP,” said Justin Semuyaba, a lawyer representing the NGOs.
“Land has been taken, livelihoods shattered and people intimidated or arrested for speaking out – yet none of that will even be heard in this courtroom… It sends a devastating message: even when your rights are violated, you can still be denied your day in court.”
The case, filed by CEFROHT, AFIEGO, Natural Justice and the Center for Strategic Litigation, argued that Uganda and Tanzania violated regional law by advancing the 1,443-km pipeline without the required environmental and social impact assessments and without adequate safeguards for communities and ecosystemsissues the court will now never examine.
Voices from the Ground Silenced
The press conference following the ruling amplified the voices the court chose not to hear. Project-affected persons shared testimonies of a process mired in opacity and intimidation.
Samuel Abedilembe from Hoima District, Uganda, explained how communities were forced to sign voluminous agreements in English, a language many could not understand. “We signed, but we do not understand what we signed,” he said.
He detailed how construction has led to flooding, with soil from the pipeline route washing onto farms and destroying crops.
Communities, he said, were not properly informed or relocated for mandatory pipeline safety tests, and peaceful protests were met with a heavy police presence.
The human cost was further emphasized by reports of an elderly woman who fainted due to construction vibrations, with others suffering from increased blood pressure.
“We came to this Court to be heard, but it chose not to listen to the people living with the real consequences of EACOP,” said Rachael Tugume, a displaced community member in Uganda. “We may have lost this battle, but as long as this pipeline threatens our homes and our future, we will keep fighting.”
A Project in Deep Trouble
Despite the legal setback for its opponents, the EACOP project, led by TotalEnergies and China’s CNOOC, remains a “reckless gamble,” according to financial analysts. The project is years behind schedule, and its cost has ballooned from an initial $3.5 billion to roughly $5.6 billion.
Critically, it has failed to secure backing from the global financial community. To date, 43 commercial banks and more than 30 insurers have publicly ruled out support due to the project’s massive human rights and climate risks. Described by the Climate Accountability Institute as a “carbon bomb,” the pipeline is expected to emit more CO2 than Uganda and Tanzania combined.
This financing crisis has forced TotalEnergies and its partners into a corner. “Having Total and its partners bankrolling almost the entire project themselves is virtually unheard of for a project of this magnitude,” said Coleen Scott, Legal and Policy Associate at Inclusive Development International.
“Every new controversy… only makes EACOP harder to justify for any investor who is paying attention.”
With external debt financing elusive, the project’s shareholders are now effectively self-financing nearly 90% of EACOP through extra equity and shareholder loans, exposing them to unprecedented financial and reputational risk.
The resistance to EACOP has grown into a major transnational movement, backed by over 260 organizations worldwide.
Their mobilization has fueled a wave of ongoing legal challenges, from greenwashing cases in France to lawsuits in Ugandan courts, ensuring that the fight against the pipeline is far from over, even after this week’s disappointing ruling.
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