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AN ANONYMOUS source at Deutsche Bank has briefed journalists that the bank will not finance the controversial East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) after pressure from campaigners.
At least 15 commercial banks have now declared they are not backing the pipeline which runs for 900 miles along the Victoria Basin, Africa’s largest freshwater reserve and the source of the Nile.
Opponents of EACOP say that more than 100,000 people are being forced off their land and expropriated due to the construction of the pipeline with some 40 million people at risk of pollution.
Campaigners have faced harassment, intimidation and attacks along with arrest and imprisonment.
The anonymous statement was released days before the Deutsche Bank AGM with critics suggesting it was timed to undermine a series of protests targeting fossil fuel financing.
Stop EACOP spokesman Omar Elmawi said: “Financing this project is madness and we are glad that Deutsche Bank has finally deduced this.
“However, they are still involved with financing TotalEnergies business and could be indirectly financing the pipeline and associated oil fields in Uganda.
“Deutsche Bank, therefore, needs to see this project for what it is; a crime against the people, nature and climate and not give Total even a single nickel for it.”