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Five years ago this week, environmentalist Ken Saro-Wiwa and nine others took a fatal lesson in the costs of fuel when they were hanged for their campaigning for clean air, land and water for the Ogoni people of the Niger Delta. Holding Shell Oil to be the main corporate culprit for ecological damage and human rights abuses, protesters had forced it to close the majority of its oil

producing operations in Ogoniland in 1993. Now Saro-Wiwa's family have initiated a law suit against the company in New York. Shell, meanwhile, has announced that it plans to return to Ogoniland.

JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT IT WAS SAFE TO GO BACK TO THE DELTA...
It took five bungled attempts to hang Ken Saro-Wiwa. His final words, "What country is this? What are you doing to me?" still echo tragically in a land that remains one of the most polluted places on the planet, thanks to oil giants like Shell, Chevron and Mobil. Fountains of oil pouring into villagers' fields, contaminated water, leaking pipelines, pools of sulphur and drainage problems have been the legacy of Shell's history of collusion with the brutal former Nigerian regime.

In October 1990, a planned protest by the Etche community of Umuechem, prompted Shell to enlist the help of the notorious Mobile Police Force. Eighty people were killed in the massacre which followed. Then in 1993, an Ogoni grassroots rebellion, led by Ken Saro-Wiwa, was put down at the cost of 2,000 lives. An estimated 80,000 were subsequently made homeless.

Despite consistently denying any links with the Nigerian military, Shell has since admitted to bankrolling them and providing support, including helicopters and boats. They even subsidised the military's brutal commander in Ogoniland, Major Okuntimo, who personally tortured Saro-Wiwa as well as shooting and raping protestors. A May 1994 memo written by Okuntimo in the days before Saro-Wiwa's arrest was flatly honest; "Shell operations [are] still impossible unless ruthless military operations are undertaken for smooth economic activities to commence".

By December '98, three years after the killing of Saro-Wiwa and his fellow activists, the neighbouring Ijaw people declared themselves "tired of gas flaring, oil spillages, blowouts and being labelled terrorists." Deaths of "possibly over 200 people" promptly followed, as well as "torture and inhuman treatments", as recorded by Human Rights Watch. Girls as young as 12 were raped or tortured.

Then in November last year, the Nigerian military destroyed Odi, a town of 15,000, killing hundreds of civilians. "When I went back everything was burnt down. There was still the smell of rotting flesh", says Ike Okonta from Nigerian campaign group Environmental Rights Action.

Shell has, to be fair, long made clear their high degree of concern over these issues of community relations. Back in November 1995, during the Saro-Wiwa trial the minutes of a meeting of the Nigerian High Commissioner and executives at Shell revealed their exclusive topic of discussion - how to deal with the damaging publicity.

Their response has since become known to us in the West. "None of our business? Or the Heart of our business: Human Rights", reads one piece of their PR

greenwash campaign. "It's not the usual business priority. At Shell, we are committed to support fundamental human rights... We invest in the communities around us to create new opportunities and growth."

Growth in the Gokana hospital in Ogoniland, mainly takes the form of green mould on the walls. Yet Shell trumpets the hospital as a symbol of its commitment to the well-being of local communities. It lacks running and hot water, electricity and mattresses, its kitchen is a single hob with a blackened pot, and they have fewer drugs there than many folks over here would consume on an average Saturday night. 25 miles away, by contrast, is the Shell workers hospital, a picture of air-conditioned efficiency. Its 1999 drugs budget was $500,000. The Gokana hospital is clearly just a token PR move.

While the Saro-Wiwa family's law suit goes forward in the US, the Nigerian Government still refuse to release Ken's body, despite permission from the president. An observer from the UK Bar Human Rights Counsel tell us that the two chief prosecution witnesses at Saro-Wiwa's trial signed affidavits, saying that they had been bribed by Shell to testify against him. To hand over the body could be interpreted as official acknowledgement of Saro-Wiwa's innocence. A symbolic burial, according to Ogoni tradition, was held in April instead, attended by 10,000 mourners. What they didn't expect, however, was for ex-Managing Director of Shell in Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Omene, to be at the helm. If, as looks likely, Omene's appointment is approved, it will be a slick two fingers to the communities who had thought some independent scrutiny might assist their plight. Instead, Okonta continues grimly, they are getting "the same man who raped them for so long. The Government and Shell are not serious about bringing the Delta back to environmental health".

For more information about greenwashing see Andy Rowell's book Green Backlash (Routledge).

How Do They Manage?
When SchNEWS heard these sorry figures about our underprivileged corporations we had a whip round in the office.

This is what the oil companies rake in EVERY DAY:

Profit per day 2000% increase PA
Exxon Mobil £32.5m      94%
BP Amoco £28.8m         94%
Shell £24.6m                   79%
Chevron £12.5m             135%
Texaco £6.2m                 84%

New Labour have done their bit too...our oil companies pay £2 billion per year less in tax than under the Tories.

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