Radical Noesis - Thinking outside the box

The oil fight in Nigeria is not new. In October 2003 (see blurb at end of article) a Nigerian civil organization called on the UN to step in and stop the abuses of the oil companies. The companies (Sheel, ExxonMobile, and others) were arming milita groups to keep violent conflict running while they exploit the oil-rich delta. That scenario has not changed, and on February 15, 2006, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) called for a "total war" on the oil companies.

Global Issues has a nice synopsis of the Nigerian oil conflict. The multinational oil companies have undermined the communities around them with pollution that has destroyed mush of the farming and fishing in the area, and pushing people into even more desperate poverty. They are bribing the government and funding conflict in the region, and there is restriction of both the movement and communication of local communities.

Nigeria is the fifth leading nation of U.S. oil imports, and there seems little motivation on the part of either the U.S. or the UN to do anything other than suppress all resistance to the oil companies. Therefore it is no surprise that "petro terrorism" would arise.

The tighter supplies get, the more likely both repression and attacks on oil supplies are to occur. It is yet another version of the resource wars. It is not new, but supply is too close to demand for minor disruptions to be hidden from the world. People fighting back for their lives and rights, are not "terrorists" in my book. However, it is clear to all that if a group wants to strike back, then oil and gas disruption get high profile attention. Resolving these issues is not possible through arms, repression and genocide. Unless we want to kill to the last drop, we really need to find a peaceful way forward.

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Alexander Gas & Oil Connection Company News October 2, 2003 - Nigerian civil society organisation calls multinational oil firms to order

04-09-03 Disturbed by the alleged involvement of multinational oil firms in the bloody ethnic conflicts in some parts of Delta State, a civil society organisation, Vanguard for Transparent Leadership and Democracy (VATLAD), urged the United Nations Security Council to pass a resolution halting further oil exploration and production activities in the Niger Delta until the oil firms demonstrated respect for human lives.

The group which described the incessant communal conflicts in the region as "petro-terrorism" accused the multi-national of instigating the crisis and procuring arms for the ethnic militia groups as a way of keeping them perpetually at war while the oil firms and the Nigerian government plundered the natural resources of the people.

National Co-ordinator for VATLAD, Comrade Emmanuel Igbini, said in that oil firms such as Shell, ChevronTexaco, Agip and Mobil have long benefited from crisis in the Niger Delta, adding that the recent allegations of alleged complicity in the crisis cannot be overlooked.

Igbini disclosed that a thorough examination of the conflict involving the Ijaw, Itsekiri and Urhobo ethnic groups in Warri had revealed that indigenes of the three tribes did not hate themselves but were drawn into war due to "a high level of conspiracy" between the oil multinationals and the Nigerian government, which controls majority shares in the oil joint venture operations.

Igbini said that "those who pay deaf ears to the cries of our people against marginalisation but insist that the crude oil must flow at all costs are terrorists," adding that the United Nations should intervene before the distinct tribes, cultures and peoples of the Niger Delta were exterminated in this act of petro-terrorism. He acknowledged that oil exports constituted over 90 % of Nigeria's foreign exchange and that a halt in its production could stall the nation's economy. He argued that the UN could tie its resolution to conditionalities that could compel Nigeria to explore other sources of energy and diversify its economic base.

VATLAD proposed that the UN resolution could allow for limited export of crude oil provided, the accruing foreign exchange was lodged in a special account pending the resolution of the developmental issues of the oil bearing communities which, he said, were at the base of the protracted conflicts.

Igbini who frowned at the deployment of military troops to the Niger Delta also argued that the troops were merely there to safeguard oil installations and not to protect the native inhabitants, adding that the Nigerian soldiers be recalled to their barracks and replaced by a neutral peace keeping contingent assembled by the United Nations.
Meanwhile, President Olusegun Obasanjo has been petitioned over the activities of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) in Kantu, an oil producing community in Warri-South-West Local Council of Delta State

Source: Vanguard