[Corp. Watch] Accessories to murder: Corporations conspire with violent regimes to maintain profits

[Corporation Watch]

[EDITOR'S NOTE: The plight of the Ogoni people described in the  
article below is the subject of the opening night film at this year's  
Anti-Corporate Film Festival in San Francisco, which starts on  
Thursday. For more information about the films -- including trailers  
and links to purchase advance tickets, visit www.countercorp.org]


Nigeria Oil Executions Case Reaches U.S.

  By Andrew Walker

(BBC News, May 26) -- Activists trying to prove oil giant Royal Dutch  
Shell was complicit in the 1995 executions of nine anti-oil  
campaigners, including Nigerian writer Ken Saro-Wiwa , will begin  
their case in a New York court on Wednesday.
	Over the last 12 years, the family of the Ogoni poet and playwright  
has pursued the company through the courts with the support of  
American environmental and human rights campaigners.

	Shell deny accusations they had anything to do with the executions of  
Saro-Wiwa and eight others by the government of military ruler Gen.  
Sani Abacha. "They weren't the hangman," Ken Wiwa, the activist's son,  
says about Shell. "But their fingerprints are all over it."

	The case will be closely watched in Nigeria, where a younger  
generation of oil militants has caused chaos in the oil industry,  
blowing up installations and kidnapping staff.

'Goaded'

	In 1993, Ogoni activists stood up to the international oil company,  
forcing them to pull out of the region in Rivers State. The protests  
were led by Saro-Wiwa, famed for writing a popular TV soap.

	He founded the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP),  
which used largely non-violent means to bring the world's attention to  
the environmental damage being done by oil production in the Niger  
Delta.

	But the leadership of MOSOP was accused of ordering the murder of  
four local traditional leaders, and arrested. In 1995 the government  
of Sani Abacha shocked the world by carrying out the executions of the  
Ogoni Nine, as they became known.

	The plaintiffs are trying to prove that Shell, in the younger Wiwa's  
words, "goaded" the government into the executions. Wiwa, now an aide  
to current Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua, says he is not  
interested in "retributive justice", but is trying to find a solution  
to the problems that still plague the region.

	Like his father, he wants oil firms to realize that it is only by  
working with and engaging local communities that there can be longer- 
term profitability for all. "My father always said that one day Shell  
would realize he was their greatest friend," Wiwa told the BBC's  
Network Africa program.

	For the past 14 years, no oil has been pumped from Ogoniland ground.

	The court action is being brought by Wiwa and the families of seven  
of the nine men executed, as well as a number of other Ogonis injured  
or killed by the military during the 1990s. The case is being heard in  
a New York court because American law allows foreign nationals to sue  
companies registered in the U.S.

	They are being assisted by the Center for Constitutional Rights and  
Earth Rights International. Their lawyers will try to prove that the  
company had a close relationship with the Nigerian government,  
ordering military raids and attacks on villages in the name of  
"security".

	They say Shell executives told the government they had to "deal" with  
the Ogonis and MOSOP.

	They also claim Shell knew in advance that Saro-Wiwa and the rest of  
the Ogoni Nine would be found guilty, and, perhaps most damningly,  
they say they can prove the director of Shell's Nigerian subsidiary  
met with Saro-Wiwa's brother and offered to arrange his freedom in  
return for an end to MOSOP's campaign.

Denial

	Shell says the claims are "false and without merit". A spokesperson  
told the BBC that "Shell in no way encouraged any act of violence  
against the Ogoni Nine or any of their fellow Ogonis. We believe the  
evidence will clearly show that Shell was not responsible for the  
tragic events."

	The executions were carried out by the Abacha government, they say.  
"Shell tried to persuade the government to give those found guilty  
clemency, and we were shocked and saddened when we heard the news,"  
the Shell spokesperson said.

	The case is trying to establish a precedent for accountability in  
cases where extractive industries come into conflict with local  
populations, says Ledum Mitee, current president of MOSOP.

	Mitee, who is traveling to the U.S. to testify, was arrested with the  
other leaders of MOSOP in 1994, but had charges against him dropped.  
"If the case is successful, other people will know there is some legal  
recourse for violators," he said.

	But even if they lose, Mitee says, more attention will be brought to  
the activities of multinational companies in similar situations all  
over the world.

	A previous case also in a New York court found oil company Chevron  
was not responsible for the deaths of activists who occupied an  
offshore oil platform and were killed by the Nigerian military when  
they came to remove them.

	Chevron had requested the intervention and flown the soldiers to the  
rig in one of their helicopters.

	The oil company pressed for damages from the community to cover their  
legal costs and in order to "dissuade further litigation", but a judge  
ruled the community should not be liable for the legal fees.

	"The comfort for me is not the decision of the court," said Mitee  
said, "but the hope of future justice for repressed people."

'Normality'

	The Niger Delta now is a dangerous mixture of armed militants and  
corruption. Unemployed youths join the militants looking for easy  
money from the extortion, kidnapping and crude oil theft they practice.

	Militant leaders have grown rich on kickbacks from anyone wanting to  
do business in the oil-producing swamps, and their ties to political  
and military figures have pushed a solution seemingly further from  
reach.

	A strong military campaign is currently under way to loosen militant  
control in Delta State, but it is not clear if the government is  
winning. Many innocent villagers have reportedly been forced from  
their homes, and there are reports some have been killed.

	If militants can fight back, oil companies' income from on-shore  
joint ventures will be put under more pressure -- it has already been  
cut by as much as 20% by militant activity since 2006.

	In Shell's statement on the trial it says: "Shell remains committed  
to reconciliation, peace and a return to normality." But a Shell  
spokeswoman was unable to describe exactly what that "normality" would  
be.