"Appalled by the denigrating poverty of my people, who live on a richly endowed land; distressed by their political marginalization and economic strangulation; angered by the devastation of their land, their ultimate heritage; anxious to preserve their right to life and a decent living, and determined to usher into this country as a whole a fair and just democratic system which protects everyone and every ethnic group and gives us all a valid claim to human civilization, I have devoted my intellectual and material resources, my very life, to a cause in which I have total belief and from which I cannot be blackmailed or intimidated."
Ken Saro-Wiwa
closing statement to Nigerian military court.
On Friday, November 10,1995, the government of Nigeria executed nine environmental and human rights activists from the Ogoni tribe. Among them as Ken Saro-Wiwa, human rights activist, poet, laywight, 1995 Goldman Environmental Prize winner, Nobel Peace Prize nominee. The nine were the first to be tried among a larger group arrested by Nigeria's military regime and charged with complicity in the murder of four Ogoni chiefs.
There has been a world-wide outcry against the injustices in the trial; before and after the executions. The defendants were denied access to Counsel, denied the right to call witnesses of their choice and had no right of appeal. Bishop Desmond TuTu, President Nelson Mandela, the Catholic Bishops of Nigeria, Amnesty International, and a multitude of human rights and environmental organizations are among those speaking out. Nelson Mandela has called for an international boycott of Nigeria's oil.
Many more Ogoni have been arrested and, of these, nineteen more activists are scheduled to appear in January before the same special tribunal which sent the first group of accused Ogonis to the gallows. Now even more persons and groups are needed to join the public outcry in the cases of the next nineteen Ogonis preparing for trial. Please, help save these lives for the New Year!
Background
These current detentions are happening in a couhtry that has been under military rule since gaining its independence from the British in the late 1950s. Nigeria has been in political crisis since 1993 when the military rulers annulled the fairest election held in Nigeria since independence. The winner of that presidential race, Chief Moshood Abiola, has been in prison for over a year. The country is ruled by a military junta with General Sani Abacha as head of state.The Ogoni are a distinct ethnic group of 500,000 people who live in an area of just 400 square miles. Most live in rural areas: there are no large towns. Three out of four people cannot read or write. There is no running water, no electricity, few roads or schools and just one hospital. Average life expectancy is 51.
The Niger delta is home to coastal rainforest and mangrove habitats. The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development classified the Nigerian coastal wetlands as a fragile ecosystem, and identified the Niger's mouth as the most endangered river delta in the world. This is a direct result of nearly four decades of oil exploitation.
Oil Development
Shell Oil discovered petroleum in the region in 1958, and since then has extracted $30 billion worth of oil and natural gas. The people derive no benefit from this extraction. Instead, the traditional Ogoni fishing and farming life has been devastated by oil pollution and - in the words of the Wall Street Journal -- the land has become "a ravaged environment."Multinational oil companies, such as Shell, have taken over hundreds of hectares of agricultural land for oil exploration, petrochemical plants, flow stations and many miles of pipeline. Loose safety and environmental standards have led to massive pollution of air, water and soil. Fertile land has been destroyed by regular spillage and leaks which are inadequately cleaned up. Fishing grounds have been devastated and local people suffer a range of health problems related to pollution. A region which once had a food surplus now suffers serious food shortages as a direct result of uncontrolled oil exploration.
In 1990, Ken Saro-Wiwa founded the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People [MOSOP]. In a nonviolent campaign, MOSOP united hundreds of thousands of Ogonis struggling to win compensation for their sacrificed livelihoods and the unconscionable devastation of their homeland by Shell during the past 30 years. MOSOP has an Ogoni Bill of Rights which insists that income from the oil go to the people who inhabit the land, that full royalties be paid and that the environment -- oil spills, pipeline breaks and toxic wastes that were the residue of industrial oil development -- be adequately cleaned-up.
The reaction of the Nigerian junta to this organizing was swift and deadly. Shell, Mobil, Chevron, Texaco--and other multi-national oil companies generate 80% of Nigeria's annual revenue. The Nigerian government owns 51% of Shell Nigeria, so while the company denies colluding with the government, the military dictatorship sent troops into Ogoniland in a desperate and deadly maneuver to protect these interests. In the last two years, violence against the Ogoni people has led to the deaths of 1,800 people, the burning of 20 Ogoni towns, and 100,000 people driven from their homes.
There is evidence that links Shell to the military atrocities. An internal Nigerian military memo, written in May of 1994, stated: "Shell operations [are] still impossible unless ruthless military operations are undertaken for smooth economic activities to commence." The document suggested that 400 soldiers should begin "wasting operations" and "wasting" Ogoni leaders who are "especially vocal individuals." Twelve days later, Ken Saro-Wiwa and others were arrested under fabricated charges. Four days after Ken and seven others were executed, Shell, in a shameless display of hubris, announced plans for a new natural gas project in Ogoniland.
ACTION ALERTS
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