Word: wiwa
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...accounts for some 95% of its export earnings and 40% of its gdp. But the vast majority of the people of the Delta still live in severe and visible poverty. One of the first activists to speak out against this imbalance was businessman, TV writer and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, from the Ogoni region, east of Nigeria's oil capital Port Harcourt. Saro-Wiwa preached nonviolence, but Nigeria's then military government charged him with having "counseled and procured" the murder of four Ogoni elders, and in 1995 hanged him, to international condemnation. Despite the return to democracy and government...
...describes the Delta's problems as "a crisis of frustration," which he hopes can be solved without violence. "[The militants] are seen as people who can stand up to the oppressors." Mitee heads the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (mosop), the group founded by Saro-Wiwa. In January, he was asked to negotiate the release of the first hostages taken by mend. When Mitee arrived at the camp where the hostages were being held, he was shocked. "I consider myself a person who can speak on these issues - our problems and protests," he says. "But getting there...
...years have passed since Nigerian soldiers hanged activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others after protests targeting Shell's operations turned violent. Today, the company?which has long maintained that pollution from its oil operations in the Delta is due largely to sabotage?is still struggling to regain the locals' trust. Shell has a new strategy. After seeing millions of dollars from its contributions to development funds vanish in the hands of corrupt officials, Shell last month signed a four-year contract with village leaders that puts $7.7 million at their direct disposal. There is no shortage of worthy causes...
...Winning hearts and minds could take years, however. "We still do not trust Shell," says Ledum Mitee, who runs the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, which Saro-Wiwa founded before being hanged. Mitee claims his members aren't responsible for the latest attacks. He says Shell must apologize for its practices of the past and begin direct talks with activists. Until then, "this is a situation which is really prone to violence," he says. With global oil supplies still tight, that's a warning that producers and consumers around the world would do well to heed...
...University to divest from Nigeria. The UC, dozens of professors, and several student organizations support her efforts. Abiola calls for divestment when the Nigerian military junta, which seized the country in 1993 and imprisoned Abiola’s father, hangs 11 activists, including Nobel Peace Prize nominee Ken Saro-Wiwa. Harvard keeps its holdings in Nigeria, including $35 million in Shell Oil, a participant in business with Nigeria’s military junta and a knowing pollutant in many countries in West Africa...