Socialist Resistance : SR47 - Sept’ber 2007

International

Another forgotten war for oil

Niger Delta
Norman Traub

The recapture in June 2007 by units of the Nigerian army of an oil platform occupied by militants from the Niger Delta, is the latest battle in a long running war. Twelve militants, two civilians and a soldier were killed and nine civilian hostages were set free in the operation.

Since 1956, when Shell discovered oil in the Niger Delta, the people there have been engaged in a grim struggle against an unholy alliance of the oil multinationals and successive Nigerian governments, be they military dictatorships or civilian regimes.

The Nigerian army in the Niger Delta is an army of occupation and subjugation of the minority peoples of the Delta, the Ijaws, Ikweres and Ogonis.

The control and the manner in which exploitation of Nigeria ’s vast oil deposits is being carried out, is at the heart of the alliance against the peoples of the Niger Delta.

Ken Saro-Wiwa, one of the leaders of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People(MOSOP), which emerged as the first resistance movement in the Niger Delta in the 1990s to challenge the alliance of oil multinationals and the Nigerian government, vividly outlined the nature of the struggle in which his people were engaged:

“Today the Ogoni people are involved in two grim wars. The first is the 35 year old ecological war waged by the multinational-oil companies, Shell and Chevron. In this most sophisticated and unconvential war, no bones are broken, no blood is spilled and no one is maimed. Yet, men, women and children die; flora and fauna perish, the air and water are poisoned, and finally the land dies.

“The second war is a political war of tyranny, oppression and greed designed to dispossess the Ogoni people of their rights and their wealth and subject them to abject poverty, slavery, dehumanisation and extinction.

“Taken together, both wars, waged against a defenceless and small people, amount to genocide and are a grave crime against humanity”.

In a report to the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, the people of the Niger Delta stated:

“Apart from air pollution from the oil industry’s emissions and flares day and night producing poisonous gases that are silently and systematically wiping out vulnerable airborne biota and otherwise endangering the life of plants, game and man himself, we have widespread water pollution and soil and land pollution that respectively result in the death of most aquatic eggs and juvenile stages of finfish and shellfish and oysters on the one hand, whilst on the other hand, agricultural lands contaminated with oil spills become dangerous for farming…”

All the evidence suggests that the destruction of the Niger Delta by the multinational oil companies and in particular Shell has taken place with a near-total disregard for the welfare of the local people.

Why would Shell conduct rigorous and extensive Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) for its operations in Europe and North America and refuse to do the same in the Niger Delta? This is a clear example of the practice of ecological racism to maximise profits

It is estimated that Shell derives 13% of its worldwide profits from crude oil exports from Nigeria . Oil flowing from the Niger Delta accounts for 95% of the Country’s foreign exchange earnings and about one fourth of its GNP.

The politicians and military dictators in charge of the Nigerian state have between 1960 and 1999 have stolen not less than 200 billion dollars from the state exchequer.

While the oil wealth flows into the hands of the multinationals and the corrupt Nigerian political elite, the peoples of the Niger Delta are driven away from the land.

With the soil ruined to a level where fishing and farming have become impossible, their means of livelihood are taken away from them and without compensation, they are left destitute. When they protest and demand reparations the army is sent in to occupy and subjugate them.

In resisting Shell and the military junta’s actions in Ogoniland, the Ogoni people led by MOSOP incurred two thousand deaths, including Ken Saro- Wiwa and eight other leaders of their movement, executed by the Abacha dictatorship.

Shell was forced to stop its operations in Ogoniland, which it has been unable to resume in spite of repeated attempts to do so.

Since the revolt of the Ogoni people, armed groups have sprung up all over the Niger Delta and attacked oil installations there. The latest attack was on an oil platform operated by the Italian firm, Eni.

These groups, formed into the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), also seize oil flow stations, kidnap oil workers and inflict punishment on Nigerian security forces.

They demand a bigger share of oil revenue, greater employment opportunities in the oil industry for the youth of the delta. Their movement has to be distinguished from criminal elements in the population, who demand ransom for personal gain.

One of the demands of MEND, the release of a militant leader, Mujahid Dokubo- Asari, accused of treason was granted by the newly elected president of Nigeria , Umaru Yar’Adua. The actions of the militants led to Nigeria having to cut its oil production by 25% in 18 months, slashing of government revenues and helped to push world prices to record highs.

The crisis in the delta is one of the biggest facing the newly elected president following elections condemned by national observers as well as internationally as fraudulent.

Norman Traub

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