Amnesty calls for Shell human rights probe

ABUJA. — Amnesty International is calling for a criminal investigation into the oil giant Shell regarding allegations it was complicit in human rights abuses carried out by the Nigerian military.

A review of thousands of internal company documents and witness statements published yesterday points to the Anglo-Dutch organisation’s alleged involvement in the brutal campaign to silence protesters in the oil-producing Ogoniland region in the 1990s.

Amnesty is urging the UK, Nigeria and the Netherlands to consider a criminal case against Shell in light of evidence it claims amounts to “complicity in murder, rape and torture” — allegations Shell strongly denies.

While the cache of documents includes material Shell was forced to disclose as part of a civil case brought against the company and many of the allegations are long-standing, the review also examines some evidence which has not been previously reported.

It includes witness statements seen by the Guardian that allege Shell managed a unit of undercover police officers, trained by the Nigerian state security service, to carry out surveillance in Ogoniland after the oil company had publicly announced its withdrawal from the region.

Shell stopped operations in Ogoniland in early 1993 citing security concerns,but “subsequently sought ways to re-enter the region and end the protests by the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, Mosop”, claims Amnesty.

The group had been formed under the leadership of the Nigerian author and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, and pressed for a bill of rights to gain political and economic autonomy for the indigenous population and protect their homeland from “an ecological disaster”.

In 1993 its mounting campaign was successful in forcing the oil company to quit the region.

But mass protests ensued after Shell pushed ahead with plans to lay a new pipeline through the area.

On 30 April the same year troops guarding Shell’s contractors opened fire on protesters injuring 11 people, and a man was fatally shot at Nonwa village in a separate incident several days later.

In the brutal backlash that followed by Nigeria’s military police, about 1 000 people were killed and 30 000 made homeless after villages were destroyed.

Audrey Gaughran, director of global issues at Amnesty, said: “The evidence shows Shell repeatedly encouraged the Nigerian military to deal with community protests, even when it knew the horrors this would lead to — unlawful killings, rape, torture and the burning of villages.”