{Mining developers in Uganda\u2019s northeast Karamoja region have failed to respect the rights of local residents who communally own the land for raising livestock and cultivating crops, Human Rights Watch said.
\n}<\/p>\n
The government and some exploration companies have excluded customary land owners from discussions to develop deposits in the area, the New York-based group said in a 140-page report entitled \u201cHow Can we Survive Here?\u201d released today. The hunt mainly for gold and marble has intensified over the past two years as at least three companies started operating without the communities giving full consent, it said. <\/p>\n
The East African nation, which has deposits ranging from gold to copper, hasn\u2019t produced large quantities of minerals. The industry could expand \u201csignificantly in the near future\u201d as investor interest in oil spreads to minerals, according to a report on the U.S. Geological Survey\u2019s website. <\/p>\n
Uganda, classified by the World Bank as one of the world\u2019s poorest nations, discovered oil in 2006 and has an estimated 3.5 billion barrels of crude. London-based Tullow Oil Plc, Cnooc Ltd. and France\u2019s Total SA are jointly developing the finds, which have yet to enter into production. The nation has sub-Saharan Africa\u2019s fourth-biggest oil reserves. <\/p>\n
The situation in Karamoja mirrors concerns in Uganda\u2019s oil-rich regions about the possibility of heightened political patronage, corruption and restrictions on civil-society groups that criticize the government\u2019s development plans, Human Rights Watch said. The report is based on 137 interviews between May and November.
\nLocal Approval <\/p>\n
The government ensures its development plans for the region have the backing of the local community, Barbara Oundo Nekesa, minster of state for Karamoja, said by phone.
\nStory: Prominent Mongolian Environmentalist Given 21-Year Jail Sentence for ‘Terrorism’ <\/p>\n
\u201cIt is not possible that government can work against its people,\u201d she said from Kampala, the capital. <\/p>\n
Karamoja, a region of 1.2 million people mainly of the pastoralist Karamojong ethnic group, has suffered recurring bouts of violence and food insecurity, with the highest rate of childhood malnutrition in the country, according to Human Rights Watch. <\/p>\n
\u201cMining development could be a real boon to the people of Karamoja, bringing jobs and better security, services, and basic infrastructure,\u201d said Daniel Bekele, the group\u2019s Africa director. \u201cHowever it is still unclear how the people of Karamoja will benefit, if at all, from mining, or how the government intends to protect their rights during this process.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
{Mining developers in Uganda\u2019s northeast Karamoja region have failed to respect the rights of local residents who communally own the land for raising livestock and cultivating crops, Human Rights Watch said. } The government and some exploration companies have excluded customary land owners from discussions to develop deposits in the area, the New York-based group […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2000050121,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[99],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-12300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-greatlakesnews","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"featured_image":{"id":2000050121,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton12300.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton12300.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton12300.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton12300.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton12300.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton12300.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12300\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000050121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12300"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=12300"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=12300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}