{"id":61121,"date":"2026-07-03T07:24:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T07:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/?p=61121"},"modified":"2026-07-03T07:24:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T07:24:15","slug":"greenpeace-africa-joins-coalition-calling-on-presidents-felix-tshisekedi-and-yoweri-museveni-to-prevent-oil-expansion-in-the-albertine-graben-around-lake-albert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/press\/61121\/greenpeace-africa-joins-coalition-calling-on-presidents-felix-tshisekedi-and-yoweri-museveni-to-prevent-oil-expansion-in-the-albertine-graben-around-lake-albert\/","title":{"rendered":"Greenpeace Africa joins coalition calling on presidents F\u00e9lix Tshisekedi and Yoweri Museveni to prevent oil expansion in the Albertine Graben around Lake Albert"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Kinshasa, 3 July 2026<\/strong> \u2013 Greenpeace Africa has joined a broad coalition of Congolese, Ugandan and international civil society organisations in signing an open letter addressed to Presidents F\u00e9lix Tshisekedi and Yoweri Museveni. The initiative calls on both Heads of State to ensure full transparency regarding ongoing discussions on oil development in the Albertine Graben and to reject any plans for oil expansion that could threaten local communities and shared transboundary ecosystems.<\/p>\n\n

The coalition’s appeal comes amid reports of ongoing discussions between the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda on potential cooperation in the hydrocarbons sector around Lake Albert. Greenpeace Africa believes that any decision affecting natural resources, community lands and livelihoods must fully respect the principles of transparency, public participation, and the right of affected communities to free, prior and informed consent.<\/p>\n\n

“The Congo Basin is one of the world’s most important natural defenses against the climate crisis. Expanding oil development into such ecologically sensitive landscapes would not only undermine our countries’ climate commitments but also jeopardise the rights, livelihoods and future of millions of people who depend directly on these ecosystems,”<\/strong> said Toussaint Molenge, Project Lead of the forests campaign in the Congo Basin at Greenpeace Africa.<\/p>\n\n

Greenpeace Africa recalls that existing oil projects in the Great Lakes region have already raised serious concerns over environmental degradation, social impacts and human rights. Any further oil expansion would increase pressure on ecosystems of exceptional ecological value, including Lake Albert, Lake Edward, the Semliki River and Virunga National Park.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cThrough this open letter, the coalition calls on the governments of the DRC and Uganda to publicly disclose all agreements reached, clarify the scope of ongoing oil-related discussions, guarantee meaningful and inclusive consultations with affected communities, publish independent environmental, social and climate impact assessments, and ensure the long-term protection of these critical transboundary ecosystems\u201d <\/strong>added Toussaint.<\/p>\n\n

Greenpeace Africa reaffirms its commitment to working alongside civil society organisations, Indigenous Peoples, local communities and environmental partners to promote a development model based on biodiversity protection, climate justice and a just energy transition. The future of the Albertine Graben must not be shaped at the expense of people or one of Africa’s most valuable natural landscapes.<\/p>\n\n

ENDS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Media Contact:<\/strong>

Raphael Mavambu, <\/strong>Communication & Storytelling Manager, rmavambu@greenpeace.org<\/a>, +243 810 679 437, Greenpeace Africa<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Greenpeace Africa has joined a broad coalition of Congolese, Ugandan and international civil society organisations in signing an open letter addressed to Presidents F\u00e9lix Tshisekedi and Yoweri Museveni. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":61124,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"not set","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"Oceans","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[26,148,46,47],"p4-page-type":[14],"class_list":["post-61121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-protecttheenvironment","tag-energy","tag-uganda","tag-greenpeaceafrica","tag-drc","p4-page-type-press"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61121"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61121\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61127,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61121\/revisions\/61127"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61121"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=61121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}