DMEA: EACOP returns to court

Issues related to the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) will return to court following objections regarding the jurisdiction of the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) as the pipeline’s construction progresses.

The suit was filed by the secretary general of the East African Community (EAC), together with Tanzania and Uganda, who have filed a suit against the EACJ on grounds that the court lacks jurisdiction to respond to a case challenging the construction of EACOP. The EACJ has said it will reserve judgement “until the questions of environmental, social justice and climate justice concerns raised in the case are heard and determined.” This is not likely to happen until sometime between June and the end of August.

The suit aims to dismiss the case before Applicants Natural Justice (ANJ), Centre for Strategic Litigation (CSL), Centre for Food and Living Rights Ltd (CFLR). and Africa Institute for Energy Governance (AIEG) have a chance to establish their real concerns about the pipeline at the main hearing.

The objection, put forward by the respondents, states that the EACJ lacks the ability to hear the case as it lies outside the statutory period of two months, adding that matters regarding human rights violations also fell outside the court’s jurisdiction. The Responders also stated that the applicant’s submission was defective, and therefore, inadmissible.