{"id":530,"date":"2014-02-17T06:27:19","date_gmt":"2014-02-17T06:27:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oilnewskenya.com\/?p=530"},"modified":"2015-09-02T21:05:10","modified_gmt":"2015-09-02T21:05:10","slug":"progress-claimed-in-bid-to-stop-congo-oil-drilling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/progress-claimed-in-bid-to-stop-congo-oil-drilling\/","title":{"rendered":"Progress claimed in bid to stop Congo oil drilling in Virunga National Park by SOCO International"},"content":{"rendered":"

[twitter-follow screen_name=’oilnewskenya’]<\/p>\n

GENEVA (AP) \u2014\u00a0An environmental organization said Friday it is making progress in its bid to block a proposal to dig for oil in a national park in Africa where 200 gorillas live.<\/span><\/p>\n

Switzerland-based\u00a0WWF<\/a>\u00a0said the British government was backing some of the concerns raised by the organization over the human rights and environmental record of London-based\u00a0SOCO International PLC<\/a>\u00a0in Congo’s Virunga National Park.<\/p>\n

The park, which is Africa’s oldest, is a World Heritage site and is listed by UNESCO as being “in danger” The park is also home to the endangered mountain gorillas.<\/p>\n

According to the WWF, SOCO has “breached the most respected global corporate social responsibility standards in its pursuit of oil” and has violated good-practice business guidelines set out by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.<\/p>\n

WWF claims that SOCO has intimidated, unlawfully detained activists and withheld information about the environmental and social risks of its activities.he<\/p>\n

SOCO, which denies the allegations, said it is looking for a facilitated mediation between itself and WWF that hopefully brings agreement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[twitter-follow screen_name=’oilnewskenya’] GENEVA (AP) \u2014\u00a0An environmental organization said Friday it is making progress in its bid to block a proposal to dig for oil in a national park in Africa … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":532,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6,7],"tags":[504,779,1030,1691,1827,2337,2340,2628,2677,2749],"class_list":["post-530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-by-others","category-oil-politics","tag-congo","tag-environmental-organization","tag-gorillas","tag-national-park","tag-oil","tag-soco","tag-soco-international-plc","tag-unesco","tag-virunga-national-park","tag-wwf","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/virunga_fb_02.jpg?fit=500%2C500&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5JWkQ-8y","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":925,"url":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/soco-set-to-begin-seismic-testing-in-controversial-congos-virunga-park\/","url_meta":{"origin":530,"position":0},"title":"Soco set to begin seismic testing in controversial Congo’s Virunga Park","author":"Samuel Kamau Mbote","date":"April 24, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Soco International will start seismic tests in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Lake Edward amid widespread protests by environmentalists who are against exploration at the Virunga park home to the endangered mountain Gorillas and a world heritage site. According to one of Soco\u2019s managers in Congo Roger Cagle seismic testing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Oil Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Oil Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/category\/oil-politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/virunga_fb_02.jpg?fit=500%2C500&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1224,"url":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/wwf-celebrates-victory-over-soco-international-in-drc\/","url_meta":{"origin":530,"position":1},"title":"WWF celebrates victory over SOCO International in DRC","author":"Samuel Kamau Mbote","date":"June 14, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Statement from WWF WWF celebrates a major victory in protecting Virunga National Park today. Soco International PLC, the London-based multinational oil company, announced that it would end controversial oil exploration inside Virunga. More than 750,000 global activists joined WWF\u2019s campaign that called on Soco to leave Virunga, Africa\u2019s oldest national\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Oil Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Oil Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/category\/oil-politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/virunga_fb_02.jpg?fit=500%2C500&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1194,"url":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/soco-international-wwf-reach-deal-on-controversial-virunga-national-park\/","url_meta":{"origin":530,"position":2},"title":"SOCO International, WWF reach deal on controversial Virunga National Park","author":"Samuel Kamau Mbote","date":"June 11, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"SOCO International plc (SOCO) has agreed with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in a joint statement to commit not to undertake or commission any exploratory or other drilling within Virunga National Park unless UNESCO and the DRC government agree that such activities are not incompatible with its World Heritage status.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Oil Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Oil Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/category\/oil-politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/virunga_fb_02.jpg?fit=500%2C500&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1052,"url":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/soco-to-complete-seismic-in-controversial-drcs-virunga-park-by-june\/","url_meta":{"origin":530,"position":3},"title":"Soco to complete seismic in Controversial DRC\u2019s Virunga Park by June","author":"Samuel Kamau Mbote","date":"May 16, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Soco international will complete the ongoing lake bed seismic survey on Lake Edward on Block V by the end of this quarter according to the latest update by the company. Soco international says the seismic survey represents the Company\u2019s final operational activity onsite Block V under its current work programme\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Oil Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Oil Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/category\/oil-politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/virunga_fb_02.jpg?fit=500%2C500&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4289,"url":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/environmentalists-calls-for-end-to-oil-exploration-in-virunga-increase\/","url_meta":{"origin":530,"position":4},"title":"Environmentalists Calls For End to Oil Exploration in Virunga Increase","author":"","date":"January 25, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"60 environmental protection groups have signed a moratorium dubbed Global Mobilization for Protection of UNESCO World Heritage against Oil: Save\u00a0Virunga \u00a0calling for a halt to all oil activities in the wider Virunga area. In a joint statement the groups under the name Virunga Alliance called on UNESCO and the governments\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Top News"","block_context":{"text":"Top News","link":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/category\/top-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/virunga.jpg?fit=1196%2C751&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/virunga.jpg?fit=1196%2C751&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/virunga.jpg?fit=1196%2C751&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/virunga.jpg?fit=1196%2C751&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/virunga.jpg?fit=1196%2C751&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4281,"url":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/environmentalist-caution-licensing-of-exploration-in-virunga\/","url_meta":{"origin":530,"position":5},"title":"Environmentalist Caution Uganda’s Licensing of Exploration in Virunga National Park","author":"","date":"January 21, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Over 60 environmental and tourism groups called for UNESCO and the governments of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo to reach a deal to stop new oil drilling licences from being awarded in Virunga National Park and the surrounding area. 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