Africa Energy Summit faces accusations of colonial racism from right and left

May 14, 2025 by Extinction Rebellion

Queries / interviews: Cathy Allen 07789541031 | XR UK press team 07756136396
Time: 8am, Wednesday 14 May
Place: County Hall, Belvedere Road, SE1 7PB

Early images | Best images  (credit Kirk Pritchard)

An elitist, secretive, high-security conference in the heart of London sparks outrage from all quarters as ‘Drill baby drill’ supporters join climate, human rights, and rainforest activists describing it as ‘racist’ and ‘colonial’. 

Calling for an end to the 29 year-old Africa Energy Summit  [1], Extinction Rebellion, Fossil Free London, War on Want, Christian Climate Action, Rainforest Foundation, StopEACOP UK, and others were joined by Senegalese drummers and videos from Extinction Rebellion Democratic Republic of Congo. 

The delegates – who pay £4,730+VAT [2] to attend the three-day conference and its gala dinner, and the vast majority of whom are white male executives of Western corporations – are assured of secrecy, but lack support from any quarter of civil society in Africa.

Not for the first time, this elitist conference comes into criticism for racist and colonial attitudes. In 2023, Salome Nduta, Africa coordinator for OilWatch Africa, was deliberately removed from the list of delegates at the Summit, in a move that stunk of racism. Nduta was told it was “sold out” even as organizers continued to advertise tickets. [3]

Omar Elmawi, Convenor, Africa Movement Building Space said: “The Africa Energies Summit is nothing more than a modern day scramble for Africa, a colonial theatre where corporate interests auction off our resources, while our people, nature, and climate are treated as expendable collateral. This is not development, it is a sacrificial ground for 1.5 billion people that call Africa home.”

Zaki Mamdoo, Coordinator of the StopEACOP Campaign said: “The Africa Energies Summit is a modern-day Berlin Conference, where decisions about our land, our resources, and our future are made without us. Even still, this summit is racist and colonial not because of who is or isn’t at the table, but because of what the table is for: the continued plunder of Africa. A few complicit African elites might be present, but the agenda remains the same, treating our continent as a resource pit and our people as disposable labour.”

The conference’s promotional video [4] depicts white Western corporation leaders and a passive welcoming African continent. John Ardill, Exxon Mobil’s Head of Global Exploration announces that, ‘Angola is open for investment. Namibia is open for investment. That’s when you can achieve these new million barrel-a-day new countries,’ and Gayle Meikle, Founder and CEO of Frontier Communications Ltd, which organises the conference, states, ‘Let’s get those deals done.’ Yet the only African speaker featured is unnamed, with no close ups and simply says, ‘Greetings from the smiling coasts of Africa.’ 

This dynamic is in line with accusations coming from the African continent. Speaking of the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline, Enoch Wanderema notes: “Uganda, the country from which the oil originates, has been cast in the role of host, not owner. Tanzania, whose land will bear the pipeline’s longest stretch, fares no better…. this is not a partnership; it’s a palatable version of plunder.” [5]

Protestors outside the conference in particular called for an end to the EACOP project and for TotalEnergies to leave Africa in line with a recent letter [6] delivered to their HQ in Johannesburg which declares ‘Total, your time in Africa is up. We will not stand by as you gamble with our oceans, our climate, and our communities. We demand you leave – for good.’  

The meeting comes amid renewed plans to develop oil and gas in regions such as Central Africa. Earlier this year, Swiss-based commodity trader Trafigura, an attendee at the summit, struck an agreement with the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to develop two blocks in the east of the country [7]. The blocks could threaten the Virunga National Park, a refuge to some of the last remaining Mountain Gorillas, and could connect to the EACOP pipeline project in Uganda.

UK-based climate and human rights activists have brought African voices of dissent to the protests outside and inside the conference for five consecutive years. [8]  [9] 

Despite being on opposing sides in the debate on what a just transition looks like, a very similar position with respect to the Africa Energies Summit appears in the #DrillBabyDrill quarters from the powerful and controversial convicted criminal NJ Ayuk [10]. He heads up Africa Energy Week and Africa Energy Chamber, and now supports the Invest in Africa Energy [11] conference in Paris – clashing on dates and in direct competition with London’s Africa Energies Summit, even though he once gave out the ‘Big Five Board Awards’ for the London summit’s previously named Africa E&P conference.[12] 

In 2023, though nominated in the ‘Elephant’ category in these same ‘Big Five Board Awards’ NJ Ayuk lost out to the lesser known British woman Eleanor Rowley, who heads up Capricorn Energy [13] .  

This may go some way to account for his vitriol at the Africa Energies Summit and his post on Instagram with accusations of racism, “I am Absolutely NOT supporting or going to Africa Energies Summit […] 13th – 15th May 2025 in London. I know some of you will be mad but my position is consistent, I don’t patronise or speak at events that refuse to hire or support black Africans“[14]. He posted a personal attack on the COO, launched on LinkedIn less than a week before the summit, “We cannot have Africa’s energy future defined and driven by someone like Daniel Davidson who doesn’t understand the continent.” [15]

NJ Ayuk’s Africa Energy Week itself garners criticism from many directions, including from Zaki Mamdoo, who heads up the StopEACOP campaign and posted on LinkedIn : “It is expected that you (Ayuk) would contribute to the infantilisation of our people – making you no different than your friends in Washington. Ours is a movement for land, jobs, education, healthcare, adequate nutrition, services, energy and climate security. Yours is a lobby group for private profits, deregulation and multinational corporate capture. Tell us then, which is really backed by “foreign interests”? Perhaps the long list of international corporate oil giants sponsoring#AfricanEnergyWeek can answer that for you.” [16] 

– ENDS –

Notes to editor

[1] Africa Energies Summit website: https://www.africaenergiessummit.com/

[2]  Africa Energies Summit ticket prices: https://www.africaenergiessummit.com/register/?acid=21382&utm

[3] African Energies Summit: Exposing the Colonial Energy Conference in London (Oil Change International May 14 2024)
]https://oilchange.org/blogs/african-energies-summit-african-energy-summit-exposing-the-colonial-energy-conference-in-london/

[4] Africa Energies Summit promotional video: https://www.africaenergiessummit.com/

[5] A pipeline of prosperity or plunder (News Decoder April 25, 2025
https://news-decoder.com/a-pipeline-of-prosperity-or-plunder/

[6] TotalEnergies Has No Place in Africa’s Energy Future: Down With #TEEPSA  (Open letter May 5, 2025) https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSffLMtOV2zByfUa2H5x-e8WDMdHTQ1RdezsdenStmCQM_EGeA/viewform

[7] En RDC, Trafigura cible-t-il vraiment les anciens blocs pétroliers de Dan Gertler ? (JeuneAfrique Feb 12 2025)
https://www.jeuneafrique.com/1657299/economie-entreprises/en-rdc-trafigura-cible-t-il-vraiment-les-anciens-blocs-petroliers-de-dan-gertler/

[8] LIVE: Protestors disrupt high level energy summit in Mayfair, London (EXTINCTION REBELLION FACEBOOK May 17, 2022)
https://www.facebook.com/XRebellionUK/videos/580149723297529/ 

[9] “Stop the New Scramble for Africa!” (May 15, 2024 by Extinction Rebellion)
https://extinctionrebellion.uk/2024/05/15/stop-the-new-scramble-for-africa/#:~:text=By%20tapping%20into%20its%20abundant,schedule%20to%20alternative%20energy%20sources.

[10] NJ Ayuk
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nj_Ayuk

[11] Invest in Africa Energy conference, Paris May 13-14 2025
https://invest-africa-energy.com/

[12 ] AOP Announces Winners of Big Five Energy Awards (Energy Capital & PowerJune 5 2017)
https://energycapitalpower.com/aop-announces-winners-of-big-five-energy-awards/

[13] Frontier is Delighted to Launch the 28th Big Five Board Awards (Africa Energies Website Feb 21, 2024)
https://www.africaenergiessummit.com/news/frontier-is-delighted-to-launch-the-28th-big-five-awards

[14]I am Absolutely NOT supporting or going to Africa Energies Summit®  (May 4, 2025)
https://www.instagram.com/p/DJOfLHWM-CL/?img_index=1

[15] NJ Ayuk, (LinkedIn May 10, 2025)
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/nj-ayuk-jd-mba-6658662_drillbabydrill-activity-7326648035545903104-ezgk/

[16] Zaki Mamdoo: StopEACOP Campaign Coordinator, Interim Africa Regional Campaigner at 350.org coordinator (Linkedin October 2024) https://www.linkedin.com/posts/zaki-mamdoo-2566a01a1_drillbabydrill-activity-7249749565765996544-qwRA/?utm

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