Wildlife Activists Concerned Over Uganda-Congo Border Oil

Activists on Thursday urged Uganda’s government to reverse a decision to open for oil drilling a wildlife park on Uganda’s border with Congo, saying the move puts pressure on the region’s fragile ecosystems

FILE - In this Sunday, April 29, 2012 file photo, the town of Obo, where U.S. special forces have paired up with local troops and Ugandan soldiers to seek out Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), is seen from the air in the Central African Republic. Uganda's government said Monday, Jan. 12, 2015, that it wants to try Lord's Resistance Army commander Dominic Ongwen, who recently surrendered to U.S. Forces and is in U.S. custody in Central African Republic, for war crimes and crimes against humanity, instead of at the International Criminal Court. AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File

KAMPALA, Uganda—Activists on Thursday urged Uganda’s government to reverse a decision to open for oil drilling a wildlife park on Uganda’s border with Congo, saying the move puts pressure on the region’s fragile ecosystems.

Uganda’s government is expected to announce next month which companies can bid for six new oil blocks, including one in the Lake Edward basin inside Uganda’s Queen Elizabeth National Park.

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