China and Ugandan leader decry EU’s call to halt planned African oil pipeline
- The China National Offshore Oil Corporation is a major player in Ugandan oil exploration and owns a big stake in the oilfields and pipeline project
- Environmentalists say the pipeline, which would pass near Lake Victoria, will contaminate water supplies, harm wildlife and displace thousands of people
China has criticised the European Union for trying to delay the development of Uganda’s oilfields and the construction of a 1,443km (897-mile) crude oil pipeline from Hoima in western Uganda to a port in Tanzania.
The Chinese ambassador to Uganda, Zhang Lizhong, said the EU “should not use the excuse of environmental and human rights issues to block development” of the oilfields and the US$5 billion pipeline.
“We hope that these projects will continue without disruptions and be completed in time so that it would achieve the desired results for national economic and social development for Uganda,” Zhang said last weekend. “And this project is also significant for China-Uganda relations.”
He spoke after witnessing the delivery of parts for an oil drilling rig at the Kingfisher Development Project, located on the eastern shores of Lake Albert in Uganda.
Zhang was responding to a resolution passed by the European Parliament last month that called for a halt to the construction of the Hoima-Tanga oil pipeline because of environmental concerns and human rights violations.