Royal Dutch Shell will pay $15.5 million (£9.6 million) to settle a lawsuit that accused the company of colluding with Nigeria’s former military regime over the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa and other peaceful anti-oil protesters.
Shell admitted no wrongdoing in reaching the settlement, which will be used to compensate the families of the the writer and activist Mr Saro-Wiwa and eight other civilians maimed or hanged by the regime. The money will also be used to set up a development trust for the Ogoni people from the Niger Delta in southern Nigeria.
A group of Ogonis used a US law to accuse Shell and Brian Anderson, a former managing director of the company’s Nigerian business, of crimes against humanity. The law allows overseas nationals to sue companies registered in America for human rights abuses. Shell spent 13 years attempting to get the claims thrown out of court but was told in April by a New York judge that the case would go to trial.
The company said yesterday that it agreed to a settlement “in recognition of the tragic turn of events in Ogoni land, even though Shell had no part in the violence that took place”.
Mr Saro-Wiwa was a popular writer who founded the Movement of the Survival of the Ogoni Peoples (Mosop) to protest against Shell’s oil exploration in the Niger Delta. Mr Saro-Wiwa and eight fellow activists were executed in 1995 after being found guilty by a three-man military tribunal on what their families and supporters claim were trumped-up charges of causing the death of four Ogoni elders. Other plaintiffs included Karalolo Kogbara, who lost an arm after she was shot by Nigerian troops, and the family of Uebari N-nah, who was shot and killed by troops near a Shell flow station.
According to the lawsuit against Shell, the company encouraged Nigeria’s military regime to clamp down on Mr Saro-Wiwa because his Mosop activities threatened lucrative oil production in the Niger Delta. The suit also claimed that Shell representatives met Sani Abacha, then Nigeria’s military president, to discuss the tribunal and told associates in advance that Mr Saro-Wiwa would be found guilty.
The lawsuit against Mr Anderson alleged that he met Owens Wiwa, Mr Saro-Wiwa’s brother, and offered to secure the Mosop leader’s freedom in a return for a halt to the group’s protests. Dr Wiwa was later forced to flee Nigeria, having also been detained and tortured by the military regime.
Shell denied any involvement in the death of Mr Saro-Wiwa and the eight men who were executed alongside him. The company insisted that it had asked the Nigerian Government of the time for clemency for the activitists.
Malcolm Brinded, Shell’s executive director for exploration and production, said yesterday: “While we were prepared to go to court to clear our name, we believe the right way forward is to focus on the future for Ogoni people, which is important for peace and stability in the region.”
Judith Chomsky, an attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York, which helped to bring the case against Shell, said that the settlement showed that “corporations, no matter how powerful, will be held to universal human rights standards”.
Last year Chevron, the US oil company, was cleared by an American jury of involvement in the 1998 shooting by Nigerian soldiers of protesters who occupied an oil barge belonging to the company. Last month Nigerian militants bombed a Chevron pipeline in the region.
A group of Ogonis used a US law to accuse Shell and Brian Anderson, a former managing director of the company’s Nigerian business, of crimes against humanity. The law allows overseas nationals to sue companies registered in America for human rights abuses. Shell spent 13 years attempting to get the claims thrown out of court but was told in April by a New York judge that the case would go to trial.
The company said yesterday that it agreed to a settlement “in recognition of the tragic turn of events in Ogoni land, even though Shell had no part in the violence that took place”.
Mr Saro-Wiwa was a popular writer who founded the Movement of the Survival of the Ogoni Peoples (Mosop) to protest against Shell’s oil exploration in the Niger Delta. Mr Saro-Wiwa and eight fellow activists were executed in 1995 after being found guilty by a three-man military tribunal on what their families and supporters claim were trumped-up charges of causing the death of four Ogoni elders. Other plaintiffs included Karalolo Kogbara, who lost an arm after she was shot by Nigerian troops, and the family of Uebari N-nah, who was shot and killed by troops near a Shell flow station.
According to the lawsuit against Shell, the company encouraged Nigeria’s military regime to clamp down on Mr Saro-Wiwa because his Mosop activities threatened lucrative oil production in the Niger Delta. The suit also claimed that Shell representatives met Sani Abacha, then Nigeria’s military president, to discuss the tribunal and told associates in advance that Mr Saro-Wiwa would be found guilty.
The lawsuit against Mr Anderson alleged that he met Owens Wiwa, Mr Saro-Wiwa’s brother, and offered to secure the Mosop leader’s freedom in a return for a halt to the group’s protests. Dr Wiwa was later forced to flee Nigeria, having also been detained and tortured by the military regime.
Shell denied any involvement in the death of Mr Saro-Wiwa and the eight men who were executed alongside him. The company insisted that it had asked the Nigerian Government of the time for clemency for the activitists.
Malcolm Brinded, Shell’s executive director for exploration and production, said yesterday: “While we were prepared to go to court to clear our name, we believe the right way forward is to focus on the future for Ogoni people, which is important for peace and stability in the region.”
Judith Chomsky, an attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York, which helped to bring the case against Shell, said that the settlement showed that “corporations, no matter how powerful, will be held to universal human rights standards”.
Last year Chevron, the US oil company, was cleared by an American jury of involvement in the 1998 shooting by Nigerian soldiers of protesters who occupied an oil barge belonging to the company. Last month Nigerian militants bombed a Chevron pipeline in the region.
The death of an activist
1941 The son of an Ogoni chieftain, Ken Saro-Wiwa is born in Bori, in the Niger Delta
1993 Mr Saro-Wiwa, a writer, leads a non-violent campaign against environmental degradation of the land of Ogonil by the operations of multinational oil companies, including Shell May
1994 Mr Saro-Wiwa is arrested and accused of incitement to murder, after the deaths of four Ogoni elders. He denies the charges, but is imprisoned for more than a year before being found guilty and sentenced to death by a specially convened tribunal
November 1995 Mr Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni people are executed by hanging at the hands of the Nigerian military government of General Sani Abacha. The executions cause an international outcry
1996 The family of Mr Saro-Wiwa bring lawsuits, filed by the Centre for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and co-counsel from EarthRights International, against Shell, its subsidiary Shell Nigeria, and the subsidiary’s then chief executive, Brian Anderson.
May 26 2009 the trial date is delayed June 8 Shell agrees to pay $15.5 million to settle the lawsuits, lawyers say. The company admits no wrongdoing
Source: The Times
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