Subject: 8000 Ogoni cases go to Nigeria's human rights panel
From: dawnstar@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Mon, 23 Aug 1999 16:59:00
Perhaps some day TOTAL will be found guilty of direct and indirect
violations of human rights and obliged to remunerate the victims in a
human rights damage settlement involving billions of dollars, equal to
and more than the sum of what they have already invested in the
regime-partnered project. Since the world knows well enough what's
going
on, anything less than that is sheer hypocrisy. Is Burma headed to a
Mandela turn the page and forget the past, heal the wounds solution, or
more on the lines of what's now going down in Nigeria. Something to
think about. Or will TOTAL and the FRench try to broker a deal in their
best interests, a peace and profits deal. Who knows? In any case, the
Nigerian example should not be overlooked as a sign of the
times.Remember, apart from Shell, Nigerian drug gangs were high on the
list of world drug traffickers.
MOSOP International Secretariat wrote:
Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People
(MOSOP)
27 Odu Street, Ogbunabali,
Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria
Ph/fax (+234) 84 230 250
e-mail: mosop@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Press release 13th August 1999
MOSOP
Files 8,000 cases before Human Rights Panel
The Nigerian Human Rights group
MOSOP, today filed a massive record of
human rights abuses which have
occurred in the south western region of
Ogoni since 1990. The submission
includes testimony of over 3000
serious incidents, primarily at
the hands of the Rivers State Internal
Security Task Force which
occupied Ogoni between 1994 and 1998.
abuses under Nigeria's military
governments since 1984 compliments
earlier submissions for the
reversal of verdicts against nine Ogoni
activists hanged in 1995, which
included MOSOP president Ken Saro Wiwa
for which the chambers of Chief
Gani Fawehinmi has been retained. The
submission also refers to the
international observers (Michael
Birmbaum -of The Bar Human
Rights Committee of England and Wales) and
investigations by the United
Nations (Report of the Fact Finding
Mission of the Secretary General
April 1996) which variously found
serious fault with the trial of
Saro Wiwa and other activists.
Speaking from Port Harcourt
MOSOP Acting President said,
"Today MOSOP is putting the
cost of freedom before the Nigerian
people. The people of Ogoni have
paid a heavy price for their
resistance to oppression by
military rulers."
"These Ogoni cases are a
challenge to the Oputu panel and the justice
system in Nigeria. If there
cannot be justice for such flagrant cases
of abuse how can we expect to
find justice for any Nigerian citizen?"
" We are asking the Panel
to recognise the degree to which the
government of General Abacha
instituted a reign of terror against a
peaceful population. This was
not a case of neglect. The record we
present today is one of soldiers
shooting law abiding citizens,
looting property, detaining
individuals at will, and torturing those
it suspected of being MOSOP
activists."
The MOSOP record of incidents in
Ogoni includes graphic descriptions
of incidents where soldiers
acted with complete disregard for even the
most basic rights.
One incident describes how a
senior military officer personally
ordered the shooting to death of
a 14 year disabled boy at point blank
rage. Other reports detail the
numerous raids on Ogoni villages in
which villagers were randomly
shot, raped and assaulted.
The sacking of 10 Ogoni villages
who are still homeless till date in
the Ban-Ogoi area by Nigerian
troops is also highlighted as well as
the incident in which Ogoni
residents at the Port Harcourt Water front
were sacked. Government’s
inquiry report dismissing suggestion
of ethnic clashes and describing
the incident as a well organized
military raid in defenseless
Ogoni residents are also catalogued.
Commenting on action that the
panel can take Mr Mitee said,
"We believe that it is
morally right that this panel at least pays a
visit to Ogoni to see some of
those who have survived the abuse which
took place in our
communities."
"It is also time for the
Nigerian government to recognise that the
Ogoni case is different. Nowhere
else in Nigeria did the government
set out to terrorise an entire
law abiding population. "
"We hope that this panel
will recognise the seriousness of the
unaddresssed abuses and make the
strongest possible recommendations to
President Obasanjo. Those who
have suffered under the last regime have
little reason for confidence in
law and order. We believe that a just
response is essential to
restoring peace to our country."
While presenting the report in
two large packs to the Commission in
Abuja, the Vice President of
MOSOP, Dr. Olua Kamalu urged the
commission to arrange for
hearings in Bori to enable thousands of
Ogoni petitioners to testify
before it as it will be practically
impossible for us to travel to
Abuja and Lagos to make our cases.
Also, he presented a request
before the panel to waive the requirement
of submitting 10 copies of each
abuse case to the Commission. Adding
that the peasant economy of
Ogoni will collapse if we are to submit 10
copies of each of the over 7,000
copies presently collated.
Also speaking on the issue, the
MOSOP President, Mr. Ledum Mitee said
"the volume of Ogoni petitions
only confirms the well known fact: that
under military rule especially
under Abacha’s, the Ogoni people
bore the brunt of the worst
forms of human and environmental rights
abuses in Nigeria to the extent
that we became the standard by which
human rights abuse in the
country was measured. The Ogoni case will
present probably the stiffest
test for the Commission and the country
as a whole."
Editor's Notes
MOSOP is the campaign
organization representing the people of Ogoni,
living in the south western
region of the Niger Delta. Since 1990
MOSOP has campaigned for the
environmental and human rights of the
Ogoni people after devastating
effects from oil exploitation by the
Nigerian government and
multinational oil operator Royal Dutch Shell.
For further information please
contact:
Bari ara Kpalap, MOSOP Advocacy
officer (+234) 84 230 250
Ledum Mitee Acting President
MOSOP (+234) 84 232 609
London Lazarus Tamana/Chris
Newsom (+44) 181 563 8614
(+44) 7887 504 014 mobile
Movement for the Survival of the
Ogoni People (MOSOP) Nigeria,
27 Odu Street, Ogbunabali, Port
Harcourt, Nigeria:
Tel/ fax. [+234] 84 230 250 Tel.
e-mail: mosop@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
MOSOP International secretariat:
Suite 5, 3 - 4 Albion Place,
Galena Road, London W6 0LT, United
Kingdom.
Tel. (+44) (0)181 563 8614 Fax. (+44) (0)181 563 8615
http://www.oneworld.org/mosop/
e-mail: mosop@xxxxxxxxxx
(c) Movement for the Survival of
the Ogoni People, 1999
--------------------------------------------------------
"Lord take my soul, but the
struggle continues"
Ken Saro-Wiwa, the gallows,
November 10th 1995.
Ogoni is a land of half a
million people in the Niger Delta region of
Nigeria. Since 1958, oil companies such as Shell have
exploited
Ogoni's oil wealth, while the
Ogoni people have suffered economic
deprivation, the environmental
devastation of our land and the
discriminatory policies of
successive Nigerian governments. The
Movement for the Survival of the
Ogoni People demands economic
justice, human rights -
including the right to choose the use of our
land and its resources - and to
a future free from violence. MOSOP is
the democratic voice of the
Ogoni people.
Curled from: http://www.burmalibrary.org/reg.burma/archives/199908/msg00753.html
