VZCZCXRO8755
RR RUEHROV
DE RUEHKM #0413/01 0790348
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 190348Z MAR 08
FM AMEMBASSY KAMPALA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0140
INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE
RUEHKI/AMEMBASSY KINSHASA 0976
RHMCSUU/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/CJTF HOA

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KAMPALA 000413 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: EPET ENRG EAID PGOV UG
SUBJECT: SNAPSHOT OF LOCAL PERCEPTIONS ON OIL FINDS IN UGANDA 
 
REF: A)KAMPALA 393, B)KAMPALA 24 
 
¶1.  SUMMARY: Ambassador Browning and Command Joint Task Force - Horn 
of Africa (CJTF-HOA) Rear Admiral Greene met with western Ugandan 
politicians to discuss the effects of continued oil exploration in 
the area.  The local leaders expressed a variety of needs, from 
clean water to education, most of which they expected Tullow Oil, 
the exploration company in this area, to provide.  A district 
politician countered fears that the inhabitants of the region would 
be forced from the land as oil production commenced in 2009, and 
reminded local leaders that the Government of Uganda (GOU) would be 
responsible for implementing reforms in the area.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  The meeting took place with the District Chairperson (LC5), 
eight village-level Local Councils (LC1s), and their deputies, 
representing the five fishing villages spread along the upper 
two-thirds of Lake Albert.  Until Tullow built access roads into the 
area, a nearly impassable escarpment separated the inhabitants from 
the rest of Uganda.  The local leaders explained that people from 
these villages were more likely to travel 50 miles across Lake 
Albert to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) than they were to 
go to Hoima, the nearest Ugandan town, about the same distance away. 
 The area contains the Kabwoya Wildlife Reserve, Uganda's newest 
protected area, which the proprietors of the Lake Albert Safari 
Lodge maintain through a concession from the Uganda Wildlife 
Authority (UWA).  The population of the five villages is 
approximately 45,000 and has, by unofficial accounts, grown 
considerably since Tullow's arrival. 
 
¶3.  Several of the local leaders noted that regardless of their 
fears and complaints, the oil finds exposed the communities for the 
first time to politicians, military officials, private sector 
representatives, and members of the diplomatic community.  Henry 
Irumba, the local leader from Kaiso village, called oil the "light 
at the end of a dark tunnel" because for the first time the 
inhabitants had roads, access to health services, and better 
education opportunities.  Also, he said, as a result of the 
exposure, the villagers believed that they were lagging in terms of 
health and education compared to the rest of Uganda. 
 
¶4.  The local leaders feared that the Government, in cooperation 
with the oil companies, would eventually "force the people off their 
land."  Following the meeting, Econoff asked the Community Liaison 
Officer at the Lake Albert Safari Lodge, Richard Angubo, to explain 
this fear.  Angubo pointed to a group of Ugandan military soldiers 
and said that they were all buying land, in anticipation that it 
would be more valuable in the future.  Also, Angubo explained that 
the inhabitants had noticed an increased presence of politicians, 
arriving from Kampala, and presumably, purchasing land.  (Note: Land 
is a highly sensitive issue in Uganda, where most people hold 
long-term leases from the landowners.  Thousands of duplicate 
land-titles exist in Uganda, due to incompetence and corruption at 
the Land Registry.  End note.)  The District Chairperson countered 
firmly fears that local communities would be forced from their land, 
either by the Ugandan Government or the private oil companies. 
 
¶5.  The local leaders complained that the area lacked clean water 
sources.  Olama Gilbert, the Local Council Chairman from Sebagoro, a 
fishing village adjacent to Tullow's main camp site, said that "they 
give us de-worming medicine, but do not give us water without 
worms."  The inhabitants drink the water from Lake Albert, which is 
polluted by a number of sources including livestock that bathe in 
the lake, disbursing fecal matter and tsetse fly insecticide. 
Angubo estimated that there were already more than two million 
cattle feeding and bathing in a relatively small area trapped 
between the lake and the escarpment.  While the Lake Albert Safari 
Lodge proprietors had worked with the GOU to have much of the 
livestock removed from the protected area when it was created, 
Angubo said that people were moving again into the wildlife reserve 
to gather natural resources, graze livestock, and settle, as in the 
case of Kaiso village. 
 
¶6.  Fishing and other natural resources are being taxed by greater 
local demand and in-migration.  The opportunity to ship fish to 
larger towns on the new roads has raised the price of the 
communities' local staple food, tilapia, considerably.  Trucks that 
delivered goods to Tullow were returning with fish to Hoima and 
Kampala, where it would capture a higher price than in the local 
villages.  The Local Chairmen reported that people had started 
fishing in areas formally used for harvesting young fish, and 
catching the fish with their mosquito nets. 
 
¶7.  Comment:  Local expectations for development in the area are 
very high, and will increase as oil production begins at the end of 
¶2009.  Rumors abound, including that Tullow Oil is secretly 
exporting oil, and that the locals will be forced from their land. 
Post will continue to work on outreach through the PRIME/West 
project, a small private-public partnership, which encourages 
environmental protection and increases economic opportunities around 
the Kabwoya Wildlife Reserve.  Also, Post will work through USAID's 
 
KAMPALA 00000413  002 OF 002 
 
 
Linkages program to develop more contact between parliamentarians 
and their constituents to handle the rumors circulating in the 
area. 
BROWNING