As oil activities encroach on sacred natural sites, a small Ugandan community feels besieged
Associated PressBULIISA, Uganda — Alex Wakitinti is worried about the sacred natural sites he tends in the large swath of bushy grassland near Lake Albert. But French oil company TotalEnergies and others working toward that goal are recklessly ignoring the significance of Wakitinti’s spiritual work, he said, as well as that of the other custodians minding hallowed natural sites in the remote district of Buliisa near the Congo border. Their traditional beliefs are seen as peculiar in this Christian-majority country of 45 million people, contributing to the sense of injustice that’s now driving a campaign to protect their sacred natural sites from oil activities. “We fault the oil companies because they have taken their roads and infrastructure through the sacred natural sites,” he said. The oil boom caught people off guard, with community leaders too slow to identify possible threats to sacred natural sites after oil deposits were discovered, said Gilbert Tibasiima, the second-in-command official in Buliisa.
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As oil activities encroach on sacred natural sites, a small Ugandan community feels besieged
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