SAVE VIRUNGA
Stop Oil Exploration in Africa's Oldest National Park
Keeping the Focus During the past week much attention went to the renewed danger to Virunga National Park coming from oil exploitation. The DRC government officially announced presence of oil in Block V and an oil bidding process in Uganda was opened in a block that not only borders Virunga National park but also includes the Ugandan… Read More
A Humanitarian Disaster in the Making Along the Chad-Cameroon Oil Pipeline — Who’s Watching? By Brendan Schwartz, Valery Nodem . The discovery of oil in Chad was supposed to allieviate poverty and human suffering, but it’s only enriched Western Oil companies and the local dictators. December 1, 2009 | In 2000 Big Oil, the World… Read More
View the story “Saving Virunga: Where We Stand” on Storify
Soco has also so far failed to commit in writing to UNESCO that it will not, under any circumstances, explore or drill for oil inside Virunga’s current boundaries. On 30 June, at the UNESCO World Heritage in Bonn, Germany, delegates voted to adopt a draft resolution on Virunga reiterating that oil exploration is incompatible with… Read More
The Church Commissioners for England announce full divestment from SOCO The Church Commissioners for England are today announcing full divestment from their holdings in SOCO International to the total of £1.6 million and the company has been notified. The decision to divest follows the recommendation from the Ethical Investment Advisory Group of the Church of… Read More
AGM scandal for British company at centre of Leonardo DiCaprio-backed Oscar-nominated film. Cheques and receipts revealed by Global Witness show oil company Soco International paid over $40,000 in just two weeks to Congolese military officer accused of bribery and violence. Officer and his soldiers implicated in bribing, intimidating and even killing Soco opponents. Company dogged… Read More
A fabled park in the Democratic Republic of Congo is under pressure from oil developers. And activists allege the dealings are tainted by corruption. Jeffrey Young full article was published on April 20th In VOA Virunga National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that is home to volcanoes and some of the world’s few remaining mountain… Read More
‘Drillers in the mist’: How secret payments and a climate of violence helped UK firm open African national park to oil British oil company Soco Internationaland its contractors havemade illicit payments, appear to have paid off armed rebels and benefited from fear and violence fostered by government security forces in eastern Congo, as they sought… Read More
Virunga, in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, is Africa’s oldest national park, and home to half the continent’s endangered mountain gorillas. It is one of the world’s great heritage sites with three thousand square miles of precious flora and fauna. Since 2010, the British firm SOCO International has been exploring the region for… Read More
08-03-2014 (PERSONS ON THIS PICTURE ARE NOT RELATED TO THE KIRUMBA DECLARATION) This is a local statement from civil society actors in Kirumba from the territory of Lubero expressing their serious concerns about the manipulation of certain actors (ACTOLE) pushing for oil exploration by SOCO in Virunga National Park. They are against the fact that… Read More
26-02-2014 DRC civil society calls Joseph Kabila to cancel the production sharing agreement signed with the company SOCO International PLC in Virunga national Park. This was the result of a day of discussions around the oil exploration activities of the British Company SOCO and its impact on the future of Virunga National Park, as well… Read More
20/ 30-01-2014 This Declaration against oil exploration in Virunga National park is signed by a coalition of farmers in North Kivu. On the 1st of February the Congolese Police cracked down their legal protest in Kiwanja. They were asking DRC government to keep a UK oil company out of Virunga National Park. Seven activists were… Read More
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