Anti-Shell campaigner arrested in Nigeria
Ken Saro-Wiwa, leader of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) in Nigeria, was reported on May 26 to have been charged with the murder of four Ogoni elders. A representative of the Nigerian government alleged that youths acting on Saro-Wiwa's orders killed the four elders.
MOSOP has been campaigning against Shell, the international oil company, to stop the devastation of the Ogoni homeland.
"Mr Saro-Wiwa is a man of peace. He has always been preaching the gospel of non-violence and an advocate of dialogue as a means of resolving issues", said Dr Owens Wiwa, spokesman for MOSOP and brother of the accused. "We have been harassed, intimidated, angered and killed by our enemies since we started our non-violent struggle against eco-terrorism, political marginalisation and economic degradation."
The Nigerian government has increased its military presence in Ogoni in an operation entitled "Restoration of Law and Order in Ogoniland".
The Rivers state authorities have also set up a special court with the power to impose the death penalty for a wide range of offences.
Since 1958, Shell and other oil companies have been drilling in this region, known as "Nigeria's Kuwait". The Nigerian government is dependent on oil for 80% of its revenues, and Shell's operations account for nearly half of that. Nigeria's oil accounts for almost 14% of Shell's production.
The local environment has been devastated by the drilling and production activities. Two years ago the Ogoni organised MOSOP to demand their environmental and social rights. Their non-violent campaign has been met with repeated massacres of people and arrests of leaders. On one occasion in 1990, 80 villagers were shot dead by the Mobile Police Force during a demonstration against Shell. [Information from Greenpeace via Pegasus.]