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International:
Ken Saro-Wiwa Resolution

Our Position: support
Bill Number: SRES303
Sponsor: Patrick Leahy
Legislative Session: 2006

On November 10, 1995, Nigerian writer, poet, television producer, father, human rights advocate and environmental advocate Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other men were hanged in Nigeria. After a fraudulent military tribunal found them guilty of a crime they did not commit, Saro-Wiwa, Baribor Bera, Saturday Doobee, Nordu Eawo, Daniel Gbokoo, Barinem Kiobel, John Kpuinen, Paul Levura and Felix Nuate were in reality executed for waging a vocal campaign against Shell Oil that sought and gained global attention to the desperate plight of their minority Ogoni community's battle against the wealthy multinational polluter for environmental justice.

To mark this sad anniversary, Senators Leahy, Kennedy, Feingold, Obama, Dodd and Durbin have introduced a resolution calling on the government of Nigeria to conduct a thorough review of the Ken Saro-Wiwa case.

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Contact

Stephen Mills

International Program Director

stephen.mills@sierraclub.org

202-547-1141

Background

On November 10, 1995, Nigerian writer, poet, television producer, father, human rights advocate and environmental advocate Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other men were hanged in Nigeria. After a fraudulent military tribunal found them guilty of a crime they did not commit, Saro-Wiwa, Baribor Bera, Saturday Doobee, Nordu Eawo, Daniel Gbokoo, Barinem Kiobel, John Kpuinen, Paul Levura and Felix Nuate were in reality executed for waging a vocal campaign against Shell Oil that sought and gained global attention to the desperate plight of their minority Ogoni community's battle against the wealthy multinational polluter for environmental justice.

Unfortunately, the situation in the delta has not improved since their deaths. Peaceful Ogoni protests for an end to the human rights abuse and an end to pollution have been replaced with increasingly violent demands from hungry, angry and now well-armed Delta youth for a share of the oil wealth. No one should be surprised, but you should be concerned. As author Andy Rowell points out in a powerful and frightening AlterNet column, Nigeria may well be the next Persian Gulf.

Misguided Congressman Richard Pombo wants Americans to believe that America will be able to drill its way to energy independence by opening up U.S. national parks, wildlife reserves and coastlines to drilling. Because we sit on top of only three percent of the planet's oil reserves, however, America will in fact remain for the near future dependent on foreign oil in order to meet our insatiable energy needs. As Rowell reveals, some 25-30 percent of America's oil in the coming years is expected to come from Africa, primarily West Africa and Nigeria and the Pentagon is already gearing up for a battle. (Weaning ourselves from fossil fuels and becoming much more energy-efficient is the only true way to achieve energy independence.)

To mark this sad anniversary, Senators Leahy, Kennedy, Feingold, Obama, Dodd and Durbin have introduced a resolution calling on the government of Nigeria to conduct a thorough review of the Ken Saro-Wiwa case.

We should not let the deaths of Saro-Wiwa and the other Ogoni be in vain. After all, their death has given life to a movement linking human rights advocates with environmentalists, defending those who give the earth a voice.