KILLING SPREE IN THE
NIGER DELTA
In late November, FoE Nigeria announced
the murder of more than 100 people in the
Bayelsa region of the Niger Delta. Over
5,000 soldiers had been moved into the
Delta, ostensibly to arrest people
suspected of murdering some 12 policemen.
Instead, the military began to shell
members of the community indiscriminately.
Local residents fled; meanwhile, soldiers
harassed travellers along the road linking
states in the Niger Delta.
Several organizations and individuals
across the country have criticized plans to
militarize the Niger Delta, arguing that
this will result in mass killings and the
further abuse of human rights like in
Ogoniland.
Local people and Nigerian groups
recommend that the government adopt
appropriate political measures to address
the crisis in the Niger Delta, which is the
result of years of neglect of the peoples
and abuse of their natural environment by
state and transnational oil companies. Top
on the list is the call for a national
conference to discuss the restructuring of
the Nigerian state into a federation that
grants communities and constituent
nationalities some level of autonomy,
including the right to the ownership and
control of land.
Isaac Osuoka, FoE Nigeria
