Ugandan farmers sue TotalEnergies over EACOP in UK court

Four Ugandan farmers have filed a lawsuit in the United Kingdom's High Court seeking to halt the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), a major fossil fuel project led by French energy giant TotalEnergies. The case, filed on Tuesday, July 7, 2026, targets EACOP Ltd., the UK-registered company financing and operating the pipeline, and asks the court to apply Ugandan constitutional, environmental, and climate law to the project.

The claimants, supported by the campaign group Avaaz and represented by London law firm Leigh Day, argue the pipeline violates Ugandan laws protecting citizens' rights to a clean and healthy environment. They are seeking an injunction to prevent oil from being transported, a move they say could determine the project's commercial viability. One of the farmers, Racheal Tugume, stated at a press conference that she was displaced from her land and that construction has damaged local rivers, wildlife, and ecosystems vital to community livelihoods.

The 1,443-kilometer pipeline, which will become the world's longest heated crude oil pipeline, is designed to transport oil from fields near Uganda's Lake Albert to the Tanzanian port of Tanga. Developers report...