At the end of January, Canadian oil and gas company Reconnaissance Africa (ReconAfrica) discreetly announced it expected approvals shortly for a second seismic survey and the drilling of three to six additional test wells in northeastern Namibia’s Kavango Basin. Residents and environmental campaigners say the company is breaking the law. ReconAfrica is prospecting for oil […]
Will Africa Be the Last Oil Frontier?
A major struggle over resources is unfolding in southern Africa. In the wildlife preserves of the Okavango Delta home to 200,000 people and spanning parts of Namibia and Botswana a Canadian oil company is drilling for oil over the fierce opposition of indigenous people, activists and environmental experts. The company, Reconnaissance Energy Africa known as ReconAfrica has a plan objectionable to virtually everyone except its investors and Namibian and Botswanan government partners who have granted permits for exploratory tests: it promises to unleash untold levels of pollution, destruction of water supplies and farmland, permanent harm to animals including endangered species and the eviction of residents from their land. ReconAfrica’s rush for what they are calling “largest oil play of the decade” is nothing short of devastating, profit-fueled extraction, with strong echoes of Africa’s colonial past.