NIGER DELTA UNREST - APPROACHES TO OIL COMPANIES Date: Thu, 24 Jun 1999 18:18:35 -0400 Below is external part of AMnesty International Action on Niger Delta Oil Companies. It is accompanied by recommended Campaign Action. If you wish to take part in this action please contact your national section. There are Amnesty Sections in all countries in Western Europe and North America, as well as several other countries in the world. Amnesty Office Addresses can be found on the AI Website at http://www.amnesty.org/aisect/contacts.htm Chris Usher (AIUK) NIGERIA: NIGER DELTA UNREST - APPROACHES TO OIL COMPANIES SUMMARY The information provided here is intended to support Amnesty International (AI) business and military, security and police (MSP) coordinators and groups in beginning or continuing dialogue with oil companies operating in the Niger Delta, Nigeria. Because of the nature of the concerns involving oil company security and MSP relations, both business and MSP structures should work closely together on this issue. Human rights violations by Nigerian security forces have reportedly occurred for more than a year in oil-producing areas where hundreds have died in inter-ethnic killings and where attacks on oil company personnel and operations have become increasingly frequent. This action aims at posing questions to oil companies about incidents in which their companies have been involved and in which human rights have been or appear to have been violated. Feedback from section approaches to the oil companies will help determine future AI strategy and initiatives, including possible action directed at the Nigerian authorities on cases in which government forces have been involved. BACKGROUND INFORMATION 1. Protests and unrest in the Niger Delta Thousands of troops have been deployed following unrest in the Niger Delta area over economic and political rights of ethnic groups in the oil-producing region. Inter-ethnic conflict involving the Ijaw (or Izon), Itsekiri, Urhobo and Ilaje ethnic groups has resulted in hundreds of deaths since 1997. In recent days clashes between Urhobo and Itsekiri in and around Warri, a major oil town in Nigeria's Midwest, has left scores dead. Unrest in Ijaw areas in the Warri area was sparked off by when a dispute arose between Ijaw and Itsekiri in March 1997 over control of a local government area, a source of revenue and jobs. Armed youths, mostly Ijaw, have attacked neighbouring communities and oil company staff and facilities. Inter-ethnic clashes between Ilaje and Ijaw over oil rights were also recorded in September 1998; dozens of people lost their lives and thousands fled the area. Inter-ethnic killings have continued sporadically. In May 1999 an Itsekiri organization, the Itsekiri Survival Movement, said that Ijaw groups had kidnapped 186 men, women and children during the conflict and murdered most of them, and had attacked and burned more than 30 Itsekiri towns and villages. Ijaw, Ogoni and other minority groups in the Niger Delta have long called for a higher percentage of oil revenues to be allocated for the development of their impoverished communities. They have also asked for investigations into oil spills and other environmental damage, which have affected their communities' livelihoods in the past 40 years, and for adequate compensation. Disaffection amongst riverine communities has also been caused in cases where oil companies have negotiated compensation for environmental damage with Federal or State representatives, and not with, or to the benefit of, local communities. Depredations by successive governments have reduced Nigeria, one of the world's largest oil producers, to one of its 20 poorest countries. Much of the population lives in severe poverty, deprived of drinking water, electricity, fuel, road, healthcare and education. In the 1990s communities in the oil-producing Delta have become increasingly divided between members of the elite or a particular ethnic group who are perceived as having benefited from the oil and the majority of the population who have not. Since 1998 there have been increased incidents of hostage-taking and attacks on oil facilities by Ijaw youths. A number of oil workers and soldiers taken captive by the Ijaw youths are believed to have been killed, although little information has been made available by the authorities or the oil companies. Shell told AI Netherlands in January 1999 that one Shell and three Chevron employees had lost their lives in the violence in the Delta region but provided no details. In June 1999 the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), an oil workers' union, in a call for more government protection for their members, reported that seven Chevron staff were feared killed in Warri earlier in 1999 and two Shell employees wounded in a gun battle between soldiers and youths in the area. Oil accounts for more than 95 per cent of Nigeria's foreign exchange earnings and oil revenues have declined sharply as a result of falling oil prices and other factors. The government has deployed troops in an attempt to protect oil production whether specifically requested by individual oil companies or not. Many oil production facilities in remote areas of the Delta, accessible only by helicopter or boat, are vulnerable to attack. In March 1998 more than 20 employees of Shell and Texaco were taken hostage by youths in two separate incidents in Bayelsa State. In a number of incidents in July and August 1998, fishing communities near Fish Town, Bayelsa State, took hostage boatloads of Texaco contract workers, seeking payment in compensation for a July 1998 oil spill from the Okubie offshore platform, which Texaco denied had caused environmental damage. In October 1998 hundreds of armed youths occupied 20 Shell and Chevron oil facilities in the Niger Delta for about a month, in some cases briefly taking hostages, cutting Nigeria's crude oil production by up to 25 per cent. From December 1998 to January 1999 five Shell oil facilities in Delta State were repeatedly occupied, employees driven away by Urhobo youths from the Isoko National Youth Movement demanding jobs and compensation for environmental damage and exploitation of their community's natural resources. Oil production has since been reduced by as much as 10 per cent because of continuing unrest. 2. Killings, ill-treatment and detentions by government forces There were increased unrest and killings, ill-treatment and detentions of protestors in early 1999. On 11 December 1998 a conference of Ijaw youths, meeting at Kaiama in Bayelsa State, southeast Nigeria, agreed a declaration calling for the withdrawal of all military forces from Ijaw areas and a halt to oil-producing activities by the end of the year. Oil company staff were evacuated and troops were deployed in key areas of Bayelsa State, including Yenagoa, the capital of Bayelsa State. On 30 December 1998 hundreds of people convened in rallies throughout Ijaw areas. In Yenagoa soldiers reportedly shot dead at least three youths, Army Igbila, Frank Nwankwo and Ezefile John, and injured others while they were demonstrating outside the offices of the Military Administrator in Bayelsa State and outside a school. Four more youths were reported to have been shot and killed in later protests outside a police station over the earlier deaths. Unofficial sources said that the demonstration was peaceful and the participants unarmed; according to the police, youths attacked the security forces and seized weapons. Up to 20 other people are reported to have been shot dead in the following days in and around Yenagoa. Of these, at least three youths were reportedly shot dead and 20 injured in Ekeki village and eight on the Kaiama-Patani-Warri road where youths had assembled to protest at the previous days' killings. Kaiama, and other villages in the area, were reportedly attacked by the security forces, who allegedly destroyed buildings and beat and ill-treated villagers. Chief Sergeant Vincent Ofoniama, the traditional ruler of Olobiri-Kaiama, reportedly died as a result of injuries inflicted by soldiers in Kaiama on about 2 January 1999. On 2 January 1999 Bozimo Ikiowari, suspected to be a leading member of the traditional Ijaw cult of Egbesu, god of war, was reportedly dragged out of Yenagoa Specialist Hospital by soldiers and shot dead within the hospital premises. Following these incidents military roadblocks were set up on roads outside Yenagoa and the civilian population subjected to extensive searches. Youth suspected of belonging to the Egbesu cult, are reported to have been beaten by soldiers at these roadblocks. In January 1999 a number of Ijaw leaders and youths were detained without charge or trial, some for a few weeks. Chief Melford Okilo, a traditional ruler aged in his 70s, was briefly detained. Timy Kaiser-Wilhelm Ogoriba, President of the Movement for the Survival of the Ijaw Ethnic Nationality in the Niger Delta (MOSIEND), and about 12 youths were arrested in Mbiama and detained at Bori military camp in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. Police said Timy Kaiser-Wilhelm Ogoriba was in custody for his own protection after being threatened by Ijaw youths who alleged he was working with the authorities. The youths were released without charge several weeks later. Ofonime Umannah, a journalist for the independent newspaper, The Punch, was briefly detained and subsequently banned from Bayelsa State, reportedly for attempting to report on the Ijaw unrest. On 11 January 1999 the security forces broke up a march by hundreds of Ijaw women in Port Harcourt protesting killings, rape and beatings by soldiers dealing with the Ijaw protesters, and reportedly detained some of the participants. INCIDENTS IN RELATION TO SPECIFIC OIL COMPANIES The unrest occurs in the general context of protests against the activities of oil companies, whether for environmental damage, lack of compensation or lack of development assistance. However, there have also been several incidents in which it has been alleged that soldiers have used excessive and lethal force in protecting the staff and property of transnational oil companies, or have carried out extrajudicial executions in targeted communities in reprisal for attacks on oil facilities or obstruction of oil production. In most cases, the information is incomplete and it is not clear whether the use of force by the security forces was in response to the use or threat of violence or was excessive. Below is information about each incident, with suggestions for questions to the relevant transnational oil company. 1. Elf Petroleum Nigeria Limited (EPNL) 1.1 April 1998, Obite, Egi On 20 April 1998 several youths from the Egi ethnic group were reportedly shot and wounded by officers of the Mobile Police, the paramilitary police, in the village of Obite, Egi in Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni local government area, Rivers State. The security forces were reportedly called in by Saipem Nigeria Ltd, a company working as a subcontractor for Elf, after protestors from the local community had seized some vehicles. Protests had increased after an explosion in February 1998 at Elf's Obite gas plant reportedly destroyed farmlands, wetlands and plantations. The gas plant is one of four service facilities for a new liquefied natural gas plant in Bonny, Rivers State, built by the government-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in a joint venture with Shell, Elf and Agip. 1.2 April 1999, Ogbogu, Egi On 19 April 1999 as many as 20 young people, including children aged 14 and 15 years, were reportedly shot and wounded in Ogbogu town, Egi, Rivers State by a joint military and police anti-robbery unit called Operation Flush. Okwudili Ajei, a 15-year-old labourer for Ponticelli Nigeria Limited who was shot in both legs, said that mobile police officers fired into his house. King Ekiti, aged 15, a school student who received three bullets in one leg, said that he and a girl near him were hit by gunfire after the mobile police ordered the crowd to stop running or be shot; he also said that expatriate staff from the gas plant were in uniform and with the mobile police. Gladys Orike, a 14-year-old street trader, said she saw many people gathered, that they suddenly started running away and that she was then shot in the leg. The incident appears to have started when youths refused to return a vehicle seized from Sdem Erectors, a sub-contractor of Ponticelli Nigeria Limited and Elf. Some of them were reported to have been dismissed following an explosion at the Obite gas plant on 20 March 1999 which killed at least four employees. On 28 March Operation Flush officers reportedly arrested three people -- Ugochukwu Agi, Marinho Okiridu and Uche Azuma -- for calling a meeting about the explosion and detained them without charge or trial for a few days. 2. Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL) 2.1 May 1998, Parabe platform On 28 May 1998 two protestors from the Ilaje ethnic group, Aroleka Irowainu and Jola Ogungbeje, were shot dead and several wounded by the security forces in an incident at Chevron's Parabe production platform 15 kilometres off the Ilaje and Ese-Eso local government areas of Ondo State. On 25 May about 120 youths from the Ilaje ethnic group had occupied a construction barge, the offshore production platform and a tugboat, effectively taking hostage about 200 workers, mostly employees of engineering firms Globestar and McDermott/EPTM, Chevron sub-contractors. Their action was in pursuit of demands to Chevron which included financial compensation for environmental damage to freshwater supplies and fishing grounds, more employment opportunities, more scholarships and the provision of basic social amenities such as drinking water. Chevron requested the assistance of the security forces and on 28 May its head of security accompanied naval and mobile police officers to the platform in helicopters privately hired by Chevron. Following the shootings, youths on the tugboat took away seven hostages who were released after negotiations on 31 May. The bodies of the two youths were taken off the platform by the security forces, along with 11 detainees, one of whom required hospital treatment. The detainees were detained for up to 26 days; all had been released by 22 June. Charges of piracy against them appear not to have been pursued. The circumstances of the deaths are disputed. According to the youths, they and elders back in their community were in the middle of negotiations with Chevron when the security forces arrived in helicopters early in the morning and started firing before the helicopters landed. According to Chevron, the youths had reneged twice on agreements to release the hostages despite Chevron meeting demands, and the shooting started only after the helicopters landed and after one of the Ilaje attempted to disarm a member of the security forces. Chevron reportedly retained the bodies of the two dead men for a month before returning them to their families and providing burial costs but without admitting liability. There do not appear to have been the legally-required autopsies or judicial investigation into the circumstances of, and liability for, the deaths. According to US Congressional representatives seeking a Congressional investigation into Chevron's activities in Nigeria in March 1999, there was evidence that the men were shot from behind, which would raise questions about the exact circumstances in which the shots were fired and whether the level of force used was excessive. 2.2 January 1999, Ikiyan In another incident, on 4 January 1999 soldiers reportedly killed at least two people and drove others from their homes when they attacked and burned the villages of Opia and Ikiyan, Gbaramatu Kingdom in Warri North local government area, Delta State, about three hours by boat from Warri. At least two people from Ikiyan are reported to have died as a result: Chief Agbagbaidi Ikiyan, a traditional ruler, and Bright Paplogba, a young man. In a letter to Amnesty International of 3 February 1999 Chevron said that it had evacuated its installations in the area and an oil rig managed by a subcontracting company, Schlumberger, after the occupation by youths in October 1998. It described Ikiyan and Opia as fishing camps, recent settlements established by Ijaw youths in the context of the longstanding land disputes between Ijaw and Itsekiri. The company said that government forces left to guard the rig had requested reinforcements following an armed attack by youths from Ikiyan and Opia, and that it was these reinforcements which proceeded to raid the villages. It said that it had no information about casualties resulting from the incident. Chevron also said that its joint venture partner, the government-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), as a majority partner, can and does make use of the joint venture's assets, including leased helicopters and boats "as was the case", presumably meaning on this occasion. It said that Chevron had "no .. involvement ... in this activity". The company said that its personnel had been subjected to threats of kidnap and abduction, harassment, attempted extortion and spurious claims, despite Chevron having made significant payments to the Ikiyan and Opia communities and hired youths from there to work on the rig. 3. Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) On about 30 January or 1 February 1999 at least 11 and as many as 19 people, possibly including some soldiers, were killed and others wounded in clashes between Ijaw youths and the armed forces near the Shell oil export terminal at Forcados, 40 kilometres southwest of Warri, Delta State. According to reports, on 30 January soldiers at a nearby barracks fired on youths from Ogulagha, near Warri, after violence broke out following the arrest of two youths who had been demanding jobs and money at the terminal. In the course of the incident, a soldier and five Shell employees were reportedly also taken hostage. After negotiations, the detained youths and hostages were released. In December 1998 Shell had evacuated staff after youths from Ogulagha had briefly seized control of the terminal in order to put pressure on Mobil to increase compensation payments for a major oil spill in January 1998. 4. Nigerian Agip Oil Company Limited (NAOC) On 19 April 1999 at least seven people belonging to the Ijaw ethnic group reportedly died at Ikebiri in Southern-Ijaw local government area, Bayelsa State, when a military security team fired on two speedboats carrying about 20 youths and two traditional leaders. Those killed were reported to be Zamiama Ayakoroma, Womiebi Ayamei, Nimi Belibotie, Owuleyefa Ebimo, Layefa Igoli, Williams Onitsha and Wisdom Oyatei. The exact circumstances of the event are unclear. On 17 April 1999 youths had closed down oil wells and a crude oil pipeline to the terminal at Brass, to press longstanding demands that Agip compensate the Ikebiri communities for environmental damage caused by oil spills between 1979 and 1997. On 18 April Agip workers under military escort had re-opened the facilities, only for them to be closed again by youths later the same day. While some sources reported that the security agents fired on the boats in response to an armed attack by Ijaw youths on an Agip maintenance team, others report that the attack was unprovoked and that the group of youths and traditional leaders were on their way to a meeting with the Commissioner of Police in Yenagoa in connection with a dispute over two boats given to the communities by Agip. The body of one of those killed, Nimi Belibotie, was reportedly taken away by the security forces; the other bodies were recovered by local people. The two traditional leaders were detained for more than a week. One of them, Chief Samuel Fiobole, said that their boat was leaving the waterfront when it was rammed and sunk by the military boat, and that he and Chief Okon T. Esule were rescued from the water by the military. He said that they were taken to Brass where they were accused of piracy and being leaders of the Egbesu cult, beaten with sticks and gun butts, and forced at gunpoint to sign statements. They were then taken to Yenagoa and to Elele army barracks, where they were reportedly beaten again, before being taken the next day to Bori military camp in Port Harcourt. There they were held for several days before being returned to the police station at Yenagoa and released without charge on 27 April. Chief Okon T. Esule apparently required admission to hospital for head injuries.