Black Looks

Current TV – Sahara Reporters

Wole Soyinka makes a public statement on the Niger Delta.  Particularly pertinent is his emphasis on making a distinction between genuine militants seeking justice and opportunistic mercenaries s seeking to destroy.

“The attempt in some quarters to confuse issues by refusing to separate the principled militants, such as members of MEND and its affiliates, from the opportunistic mercenaries and criminals, has always struck me as dishonest and diversionary…….

Extortionists? Hostage takers? Thrill killers? Since when was any liberation movement throughout history exempt from its quota of deviants! Was the Nigerian Federal Army itself even free of such human dregs when it was launched to prosecute a war dedicated, with all due sanctimoniousness, to ‘keeping the nation one’. We shall bypass for now, the question of what, and whose nation it has proved – an imperial delusion, or the genuine product of a people’s will?”

Soyinka goes on to remind the Nigerian leadership and those in the country who are only able to think in terms of the present and insist on continuing to find solutions by trying to fix square pegs in round holes…and in this case results in death and injury to it’s own citizens…

It is not for nothing that MEND, in a number of its dispatches, has stressed not just the flawed antecedents of the Nigerian project in general, but the incorrigible cabalism of governance that makes a mockery of the democratic process, and thus robs the citizens of dignity and voice. MEND has interjected its communiques with reminders that the Delta contestation is a product of the desperate sustenance of the very immorality of the Nigerian state – and the continuing, corrupt desperation of power. That MEND took pains to state this in such stark terms is superfluous; even without this denunciation, the insolence of the democratic exercise of 2007 cannot be discounted as a crucial factor in the stiffening of militant intransigence in the Delta.

Finally Soyinka calls for an investigation into the “indiscriminate bombings and saturation bombardment of villages ‘suspected’ to harbour sought militants” – not another commission but a real investigation! His article focuses on the “Obasanjo-Yar’Adua diarchy“,  the political leadership of the Niger Delta have given both  regimes their full support in spite of their militarisaton of the region.

An interactive map of the Niger Delta by the Financial Times showing  oil fields and conflict zones -See MAP

The Nigerian government has just launched a “$5 million war” against bloggers and online news media such as Sahara Reporters.

Three security sources, who are privy to the plan, revealed that Yar’adua last week approved the covert operation to stop websites and bloggers from influencing public opinion in Nigeria. The president’s Chief Economic Adviser, Tanimu Kurfi will source the funds for the operations.

On the one hand this is good news as the Nigerian government wakes up to the power of citizens media and that we are watching  and reproting on their every step.  On the other hand this is very dangerous for bloggers in the country and those outside who may wish to return home whether for a short holiday, work or permanently.  We are all very much aware of what happened to two bloggers  [Jonathan Elendu and Emeka Asiwe]   last year who were met and detained by security officials as they landed at Abuja airport.
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The following article is published in Pambazuka News and is written by Sokari Ekine and Firoze Manji

“And as I was going, I was just thinking how the war have spoiled my town Dukana, uselessed many people, killed many others, killed my mama and my wife, Agnes, my beautiful young wife with J.J.C and now it have made me like porson wey get leprosy because I have no town again.
And I was thinking how I was prouding before to go to soza and call myself Sozaboy. But now if anybody say anything about war or even fight, I will just run and run and run and run and run. Believe me yours sincerely” Ken Saro Wiwa, Sozaboy

Thirteen years ago, Ken Saro Wiwa Jr and the families of the 8 other Ogoni men who had been murdered by the Nigerian state in 1995 , together with two other Ogonis, began three separate law suits against Royal Dutch Petroleum, Shell Petroleum Development Corporation and Brian Anderson former CEO of the SPDC. The plaintiffs accused Shell of human rights abuses against the Ogoni people, arming the Nigerian army and of being complicit in the extrajudicial killing of the Ogoni 9 in 1995. The trial against Shell was due to start on the 26th of May but was then delayed indefinitely. On Tuesday 9 June 2009, we learned that Shell had settled the case out of court for a sum of $15.5 million which included a $5 million contribution to a trust for the Ogoni people. The settlement was offered with no admission of liability from the defendant. While the settlement is being seen as a victory for human rights, it does raise a number of worrying issues in law suits by local indigenous communities against multinationals who are committing human rights violations and environmental crimes.

It is impossible to separate the actions of the oil multinationals operating across the Niger Delta from the actions of the Nigerian government in the region. The relationship between the two, though complex, is based on profit over and above any other consideration. In exchange for the oil that is removed from the Niger Delta, the oil companies with the support of the Nigerian state, have left behind an ecological disaster, whole towns and villages reduced to rubble, death by fire, pollution and the guns of the Nigerian military. Shell and the other oil companies in the region have one of the worst environmental records in the world. This includes pollution of the air and drinking water, degradation of farm land, damage to aquatic life, disruption of drainage systems, oil fires which have left people dead and with horrific burn injuries and no medical care. The causes of the damage to the environment are oil spills from pipelines and flow stations, many of the former running through villages and in front of peoples homes; gas flaring which produces toxic gases and poisons into the atmosphere.
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The case has been settled out of court with $10 million going to the 10 plaintiffs and $5 million being gifted to the Ogoni people. Details of the settlement are here and here. Below is part of the statement from the lawyers in the case. I will be writing more on this in Pambazuka News later this week.

“The agreements reached today comprise one of a handful of successful settlements in corporate cases brought for human rights violations under the Alien Tort Statute, a 1789 statute that allows victims of human rights abuses from around the world to sue the perpetrators in U.S. courts. Since 1997, in Doe v. Unocal, the courts have made clear that multinational corporations can also be sued for human rights violations such as extrajudicial execution, torture and crimes against humanity, as charged in this case.

The settlement represents one more step towards holding corporations accountable for complicity in human rights violations, wherever they may be committed. We hope that this settlement provides another building block in the efforts to forge a legal system that holds violators accountable wherever they may be and prevents future violations. ”

The trial has been delayed over and over and finally well we thought finally it was due to start on the 26th May and then 27th May. Another cancellation and now we learn that both the trial and the pre-trial conference have been delayed indefinitely. What is going on? Steve Kretzmann Han Shan speculates on the Shell Guility Blog on what could be causing the delay and comes up with four possibilities:

1) A new pre-trial conference and trial is round the corner – Possible but why say indefinitely if this is the case.

2) A settlement is being negotiated – Though Kretzmann Shan like the rest of us would prefer to see the trial go ahead he is sympathetic to a settlement. I am not and I think many progressive thinking Nigerians would agree. The trial is now bigger than the Ogoni 8, the Ogoni people. The whole Niger Delta and Nigeria for that matter wants to see Shell exposed and hopefully the Nigerian government as well. Why come this far only to end up settling? More of a shame than a victory.

3) Delayed to broaden the case. Like Kretzmann Shan this is the best possible scenario though like him I am not sure what it means. Maybe to include other crimes by Shell?

4) Finally a “technical” reason based on whether or not Shell or Shell Nigeria can fall under the jurisdiction of the US courts – complicated so you may need to read Kretzmann’s Shan’s explanation!

Flashpoints Radio : Haitian community leader and fighter for justice Father Gerard Jean-Juste passes away, we’ll hear from friends and colleagues who remember his life and legacy; also, how influential are the pro-Israel lobby groups in Obama’s White House? We’ll speak to an expert on the lobbies; plus, JR and the Block Report talk about the fight against Shell Oil in Nigeria; and the Knight Report.Remembering Father Gerard Jean Juste

“They bombed everywhere and everything. They don’t have feelings at all. I was lucky to have my children and husband alive. My neighbour lost his pregnant wife in the incidence. She was my friend too.” – Evelyn Emmanuel”

On May 14, 2009 at about noon, Gbaramatu Kingdom,Delta State, was in a festive mood. There had been an influx of guests into the community from far and near. They all came to witness the presentation of the Staff of Office to the Pere of Gbaramatu Kingdom, His Royal Majesty Ogie the third. The palace located in Oporoza was filled with well- wishers as the day also marked the King’s one year anniversary. Suddenly, three low flying helicopters were seen approaching the Kindgom. The community people initially thought they were flying dignitaries to the ceremony or that they were part of the glamour for the ceremony. They were wrong. Dead wrong!

The three choppers were actually gunships of the Joint Military Task Force, on a mission to mow down the Gbaramatu Kingdom. Suddenly the gunships started bombing everywhere, the King’s palace inclusive. The JTF, ostensibly on a mission of searching for militants and rescuing hostages, embarked on massive military assault on Gbaramatu Kingdom made up of 163 communities, villages and hamlets. The military deployed its most sophisticated weaponry against the hapless residents of the community The military machines unleashed on the communities include four helicopter gunboats for aerial bombing, two Naval Ships; NNS Obula and NNS Nwanba and large troop of soldiers.
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