WATCH: Got Democracy? Uganda’s Dilemma: Oil Rich, Growing Unrest
The Riots
Starting on September 11, rioting and peaceful demonstrations in Uganda’s capital city Kampala, were brutally shutdown by military police and army troops. Internationally Ugandans protested the excessive violence and have continued to speak out about the detentions and deaths of at least 25 civilians.
The Oil
MONEYWEB: Ugandan Oil Reserves, a Blessing or a Curse?
With an estimated reserve of 2bn, the United States and other countries have expressed interest in helping Uganda exploit the resource with Norway already training Ugandans in the oil industry. But according to analysts, the government is not bowing to international pressure and wants to exploit the resource once it is sure the country will benefit.
CC: If Uganda Has Oil It Must Need The Pentagon’s Democracy
If there is oil in Uganda, there must be bad people there who need the Pentagon to bring them democracy, a colleague observed. And indeed this is in part correct, there are some very bad people there.
DRC map, coltan, minerals, with areas of Ugandan and Rwandan military activity markedThere is also the possibility of major oil finds in northwestern Kenya, bordering on northern Uganda and southeastern Sudan. So the LRA is very much in the way, wherever it is holed up or active. This more than any humanitarian concern is making it more urgent and important to get rid of them. Source: Crossed Crocodiles
MONITOR: Uganda’s endowment allures French investors
Mr Jack-Gregor Tcherniavsky, the managing director of Tencate Geosynthetics Africa region, said his company would be interested in exploiting the opportunities that the production of oil will bring to the nation.
“In about one or two years, the oil production business will start and I am quite sure this will improve the country’s economic growth. There will be a need to build more roads and more infrastructure, which my company can do,” Mr, Tcherniavsky said.
We have invested about $500m. It sounds like a huge risk but the first investment is drilling exploration wells. When you succeed, you de-risk and you drill more and more wells. We accelerated the programme over the last four years to find out as quickly as possible what the basin had. That is why we spent a lot of money in the last two years. It has been a huge investment.
