On Nov. 10, the military government of Nigeria executed nine environmental activists, including eight members of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP), for their roles in a five-year campaign to gain greater self-determination. This campaign was inspired by the widespread degradation of their land by Shell Oil. Before the executions, Shell voiced only minimal objections to the sentence. Three days after the hangings the company actually announced plans to go forward with a $3.86 billion natural gas extraction facility in the area, providing further royalties for the military regime. At this moment, 17 other Ogoni activists remain in detention.
These events have provoked a storm of international protest. The Commonwealth of Nations took the unprecedented step of suspending Nigeria's membership. The U.S., and other nations withdrew their ambassadors. President Clinton extended a ban on military equipment sales. The World Bank's International Finance Corporation suspended its support for the proposed natural gas project. No country has yet taken the decisive step of placing an embargo on Nigerian oil, which provides 80 percent of government revenues.
Such an embargo could seriously weaken the regime, and would also affect Shell Oil, as Shell relies on Nigeria for 14 percent of its worldwide production. Even if an embargo were enacted, the question of Shell's responsibility for these events would remain. How should a company conduct itself in countries run by dictatorships, and what should be the consequences for its disregard of the rights of local peoples and their environment? To address these questions, more history is needed.
Since the first military coup in 1966, Nigeria has only had a civilian government during the period from 1979 to 1983. Significantly, the first military takeover occurred just when it became apparent that Nigeria's high-quality oil fields would produce vast wealth. Shell, in cooperation with the federal government, accounts for most of the onshore oil output there, while Mobil and Chevron run most of the offshore wells.
In the period from 1976 to 1991, there were approximately 3,000 separate oil spills in the delta region. This oil has leaked into water supplies and damaged farmlands and fishing grounds. In addition, gas flares from wells have burned unchecked for months, covering nearby areas with soot, and acidifying rain, and causing respiratory problems for villagers. Farmers' small holdings have been routinely bulldozed to lay down overground oil pipelines.
As a result of this history of mistreatment, five years ago local communities in the Ogoni area of the delta began to organize, and MOSOP was founded. It called for several political reforms, including the right to a fair portion of Ogoni resources, environmental protection, and better representation in national politics. After a peaceful protest against it in October 1990, Shell called in federal police, who tear-gassed demonstrators, destroyed hundreds of homes, and killed 80 people. After the regime annulled a national presidential election in June 1993, it arrested Ken Saro-Wiwa and other MOSOP leaders. When protests forced the military ruler to resign and a former director of Shell Nigeria was appointed temporary president in August, the military intensified its campaign against the Ogoni.
After a coup in November 1993, 63 people were killed in a military attack. Ogoni protests continued - resulting in suspension of oil company operations and the loss of extraordinary amounts of revenue. After the murder of four prominent Ogoni chiefs on May 21 - apparently by a mob angry at their collaboration with government officials - an even more brutal crackdown began. At least 50 Ogonis were reportedly executed by the security forces in retaliation, and villages were raided in a campaign of torture, rape, destruction, and murder.
On May 22, Ken Saro-Wiwa and a deputy were arrested. Eventually the government charged them with instigation of the May 21 murders, and brought the case to trial. The international organization "Humans Rights Watch/Africa" has reviewed the government's case and documented many irregularities, including bribery of witnesses and use of subsequently recanted material. More important is the history of activity of MOSOP and Saro-Wiwa himself: they had always denounced violence. In spite of appeals for due process, in November the nine environmental leaders were hanged.
Shell Oil has participated in this unfair treatment of Nigerian people and degraded their lands. Shell has repeatedly called for military police to protect its property, to enable continued oil production. Shell's defense is that the political affairs of Nigeria are not its concern, and that its environmental record there has been distorted. At the tribunal shortly before his death, Ken Saro-Wiwa disagreed saying, "Shell is here on trial.... The crime of the company's dirty wars against the Ogoni people will be punished."
Copyright 1995, The Yale Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.
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