Nigeria: Indigenous people occupy pumping station

The Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) warned on Friday of an outbreak of violence in the oilfields of Nigeria, which could drive up oil prices throughout the world. Following the forceful occupation of an oil-pumping station the human rights organisation called for the immediate release of the militia leader, Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, who was arrested on Tuesday. He and his lawyer, Uche Okoko, are to be charged with high treason because they work for the foundation of an independent state in the Niger delta, an area which has been neglected for decades by the federal government of Nigeria. "Instead of doing something at last about the miserable conditions under which the minorities suffer as a result of the oil production in the Niger delta, the controversial leader of the militia is being turned into a martyr with the charge of high treason and thus new bloodshed is being provoked” warned the Africa expert Ulrich Delius.

The human rights organisation was strongly opposed to the violent protests of the indigenous peoples and to the statements of the head of the militia. "However the deep-seated ethnic, religious and social problems of the state of Nigeria with its many peoples are not going to be solved by tabooing the conflicts and criminalizing everybody who is demanding a solution” said Delius. More than 20,000 Nigerians have become victims of the ethnically motivated violence since 1999. The GfbV observes with great concern the fact that Nigeria’s security forces are pursuing critics of their nationalities policies with increasing ruthlessness. On 7th September 2005 more than 200 supporters of the "Movement for an independent state of Biafra” (MASSOB) were arrested at a demonstration in the neighbouring federal state of Anambra. "35 years after the end of the genocide in Biafra the mass murder of more than a million Biafrans in Nigeria is still taboo” criticised Delius.

Even at the recent protests in the Niger delta following the arrest of the head of the militia "Niger Delta Peoples Volunteers Forces” (NDPVF) the administration just reacted helplessly, sending several thousand soldiers, helicopters and warships. The supporters of the militia leader had previously threatened to close installations of the oil industry by force to secure his release. In the view of the GfbV Nigeria’s federal government shares part of the blame for the escalation of violence as it ignored for decades the non-violent protests of the indigenous peoples and long paid court to the violent leader of the militia and strengthened him in his power.

Nigeria belongs to the eight most important oil producing countries of the world. Almost all the daily production of 2.5 million barrels of raw oil is produced in the Niger delta.