Over 30 CSOs petition US over firm accused of evicting Kiryandongo locals

Activists in 36 local and foreign Civil Society Organizations (CSOS) have asked the World Bank, America and Netherlands to support an independent investigation into human rights abuses committed against dozens of vulnerable people in Kiryandongo District, western Uganda.

The CSOs indicate that the human rights abuses are being perpetrated by an agribusiness company, Agilis Partners Limited, which is reportedly financed by the World Bank, US and Netherlands.

Available information suggests that the firm is owned and directed by American businessmen brothers Philipp Prinz and Benjamin Prinz.

“But through its subsidiary, Agilis Ranch 20 & 21 Investment Company (Uganda) Ltd (registration # 80020000586929), the multinational company is pursuing large-scale grain agriculture in disputed land in Kitwaala and Kiryandongo sub-counties,” the CSO’s which include Protection International, Policy Action Initiative, Asegis Community Network and the Accountability Counsel jointly claim.

According to the CSO’s, several Project Affected Persons (PAPs) have been forcefully evicted from their land to make way for the agribusiness company’s operation in violation of human rights.

Other concerns of widespread human rights abuses highlighted include, among others, violations of indigenous peoples’ right to free, prior, and informed consent, abduction, arrest, torture and sexual violence against women in addition to negative social and environmental impacts in Kiryandongo District, reads a letter written on June 18 to Prinz.

District authorities who preferred anonymity told Monitor that “no one knows the exact year when the government allegedly gave the land to three multinational companies for large scale farming.”

However, they suggested that Agilis Partners, Great Season (a firm owned by Sudan nationals) and Kiryandongo Sugar Limited acquired the land under leasehold.

In February 2020, former Kiryandongo Resident District Commissioner (RDC) Peter Debele said “encroachers took advantage of the empty space to settle in the vast fertile ranches.”

Speaking to Monitor, Agilis Partners spokesperson Emmanuel Onyango dismissed allegations of forceful evictions and human rights abuses.

“To be honest, I don't know why people keep on accusing us of evictions, yet we still have people residing on Ranch 20 and 21,” he said.

“For a company that is providing agronomic support to several farmers in the area, employing hundreds, this is really sad. If indeed they were evicting people, there wouldn't be anyone left on the land,” he further remarked in an April 19, 2022 WhatsApp text.

Petitioners

AbibiNsroma Foundation in Ghana, Accountability Counsel, Agency for Turkana Development Initiatives (ATUDIS), Friends of Lake Turkana, Protection International, Policy Action Initiative, Asegis Community Network; Asia Indigenous Peoples Network on Extractive Industries and Energy (AIPNEE),  Indigenous Peoples Rights International, Asociación para la defensa de los derechos naturales, Benet Mosop Indigenous Community Association,  Buliisa Initiative for Rural Development Organisation (BIRUDO), Chairperson of Oil Workers Rights Protection Organization, Environmental Defender Law Center.

Others are Global Rights, Green Development Advocates, International Accountability Project, Kebetkache Women Development & Resource Centre, League of Volunteers for Human Rights and Environment (LISVDHE), Menafem in Egypt, Oyu Tolgoi Watch, PIDP, Project on Organizing, Development, Education, and Research (PODER). Sengwer Indigenous Peoples Programme,  The Awakening, Women for Green Economy Movement Uganda, Green Advocates International, Jamaa Resource Initiatives Kenya, LSD, Narasha Community Development Group, Network Movement for Justice and Development (NMJD), Observatoire de la Société Civile Congolaise pour les Minerais de Paix (OSCMP), Propurus, Turkana Extractive Consortium, Asociación ProPurus  and Uganda-based Witness Radio.