Shell preparing to return

[Marcia Carroll <marcia@essential.org>]

    London Times July 11 1997 
  
     Shell cleaning up act for Ogoniland return
  
     FROM DAVID ORR IN BORI, NIGERIA
  
     LESS than two years after the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa, the human
     rights activist, and eight fellow campaigners, Shell is preparing a
     return to the oil-rich enclave of Ogoniland in southern Nigeria. The
     world's largest oil company says that if everything goes according to
     plan, it could be back in Ogoniland by the turn of the century.
  
     "We're working on healing the wounds," said Victor Dania, a Shell
     spokesman, in the oil city of Port Harcourt.
  
     The Anglo-Dutch oil giant withdrew from Ogoniland in 1993 after
     attacks on staff and damage to equipment. The campaign against Shell
     was led by Saro-Wiwa, who claimed Shell polluted the environment and
     connived with the Nigerian Government to deprive the Ogonis of oil
     wealth which should have been theirs.
  
     Saro-Wiwa and eight others were hanged in November 1995 after what was
     widely regarded as a show trial. Nigeria was suspended from the
     Commonwealth and diplomatic sanctions were imposed on the military
     regime. As a result of continuing rights abuses, Robin Cook, the
     Foreign Secretary, has said Nigeria should not be readmitted to the
     Commonwealth.
  
     Shell, which was accused of not having done enough to save Saro-Wiwa,
     admits it handled the affair badly. "We did as much as we could have
     for the Ogoni Nine," Mr Dania said. "But we should have been more
     active in telling the world about our point of view."
  
     In a belated effort to woo the Ogonis, Shell is offering to clean up
     oil spills in the area and to increase its assistance to the
     inhabitants. It is planning to spend nearly  500,000 on community and
     environmental projects this year.
  
     Though Ogoniland accounted for only 3 per cent of Nigeria's total oil
     production, the enclave is still considered by Shell to be
     sufficiently rich in high-grade crude to justify a return. Shell's
     daily production of nearly a million barrels of oil in Nigeria is
     worth  500,000 to the company.
  
     Shell says it has recently reopened negotiations with Ogoni
     representatives, among them members of the Movement for Survival of
     the Ogoni People (Mosop) founded by Saro-Wiwa in 1990. But a spokesman
     for Mosop, which has been banned by the Nigerian Government, denied
     there had been any contacts.
  
     "Shell is indirectly supporting a military clampdown in Ogoniland," he
     said. "We will only talk if the marginalisation of the Ogoni people
     and their problems are addressed."
  
     The 400-square-mile Ogoniland enclave (about the size of the Isle of
     Wight) is patrolled by a military task force and people speak of
     continual harassment.
  
     "We're afraid to talk openly," an Ogoni chief said during a
     clandestine visit to the area. "You can't mention the name of Ken. If
     you did, it would be prison or death."
  
     The chief said an oil spill in 1994 had polluted his village's water
     but that Shell had neither offered to clean it up nor to pay
     compensation.