Ogoni representative tours
By Matt Wilson and Jonathan Strauss
Nigeria's minority Ogoni people face environmental and social destruction at the hands of the Shell oil company and the country's military dictatorship. This is the message being spread by Komene Famaa, European representative of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) as he tours Australia.
Famaa's tour began in Adelaide on May 26 with a public meeting attended by 150 people. Famaa outlined the history of the oppression of the Ogoni people at the hands of the Nigerian dictatorship in close collaboration with the Royal Dutch Shell corporation. Shell discovered oil in the Niger River delta in 1958.
The plight of the Ogoni people was thrust into the international spotlight with the judicial murder of MOSOP leader Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other leaders in November 1995 by the military regime of Sani Abacha. Extrajudicial killings and disappearances continue. Another 19 Ogoni leaders are in jail facing charges that could also result in their executions.
There are 100,000 internal refugees. Around 1000 families have fled to neighbouring Benin.
Famaa added that the Ogoni people are being pushed towards extinction. When Shell finds a new oil field, for example, the unlucky land-holders face a long jail term, or outright murder, if they resist.
The next Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, scheduled for later this year, will discuss whether to readmit Nigeria to the Commonwealth. Nigeria was suspended after the 1995 executions. Famaa demanded the expulsion of Nigeria from the Commonwealth until there is genuine democracy.
On May 29, 200 people attended a public meeting at Sydney University to hear the Ogoni activist. "Our land is our life", Famaa explained. Much of the Ogoni people's land and water resources have been destroyed by pollution from Shell's poorly maintained facilities. The Ogoni are excluded from employment in the oil industry.
MOSOP has mobilised the population of the Niger delta in an attempt to take back control of their land, Famaa said.
Famaa appealed to Australians to help bring down the Abacha military dictatorship. He praised a Senate motion passed on the initiative of Australian Greens Senator Bob Brown which called for a boycott of all Shell products.
Famaa also addressed meetings in Canberra, Brisbane and Newcastle.