A unique court case, brought by four Nigerian victims from Goi-Ogoni, Rivers State, Ikot Ada Udo, Akwa Ibom State and Oruma, Rivers State of Shell oil leaks, in conjunction with Milieudefensie [Friends of the Earth Netherlands], begins on Thursday in the court at The Hague. This is the first time in history that a Dutch company has been brought to trial before a Dutch court for damages occurring abroad.

The Nigerian farmers and fishers, who lost their livelihoods after oil from leaking Shell pipelines streamed over their fields and fishing ponds, are claiming compensation from the Dutch multinational. They also want Shell to clean up the oil which remains in the ground, so that they can fish and farm once again.
 

The four victims of the leaks are from three Nigerian villages. They have subpoenaed both Shell’s subsidiary in Nigeria and the Dutch Headquarters. They allege that as the result of Shell's negligence, agricultural lands have been devastated, drinking water polluted, fish ponds made unusable and the environment and health of local people harmed.
 

COMMUNIQUÉ ON THE OILWATCH AFRICA SUMMIT ON OIL, ENVIRONMENT AND CONFLICT HELD IN WARRI DELTA STATE IN THE NIGER DELTA REGION OF NIGERIA DECEMBER 3RD – 6TH 2007

PREAMBLE
Civil society groups and community representatives from some countries in Africa who are members of the Oilwatch Africa Network participated in a three day intensive strategy session on oil, its impact on the environment and its inherent capacity to inflict violence on local communities who are unfortunate to have oil discovered around them.

Participants particularly reflected on the activities of Oilwatch Africa in the last one year, the need to quickly strengthen and build sufficient capacity within the network such that the network can significantly influence policy on oil both at national and regional levels; participants also took a position on the climate change issue that would be pushed at the Bali Climate Change conference.

Ghanaian Chronicle (Accra)

THE Programme Officer of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the Western Region, Mr. Kwame Diewuo, has disclosed that the agency's preliminary investigations so far conducted into the operations of the West Africa Gas Pipeline (WAGP) project have confirmed that WAGP operations have led to the pollution of the sea at Aboadze.

Consequently, the agency, he said, would continue to conduct intensive investigations to prove that the WAGP was responsible for the pollution of the sea.

Speaking at the meeting of the chiefs and people of Aboadze over the pollution of the sea, the Programme Officer requested that residents of the affected areas took the samples of their urine and blood to medical laboratories for tests to see if the pollution had affected them.

Shell says it requires an additional $3 billion (N375 billion) and the resolution of the Niger Delta crisis to be able to end gas flaring in the country, insisting that it will be unable to meet the December 2008 deadline due to insecurity in the oil-rich region and funding shortfalls. The oil giant said in a report on “The elusive goal to stop flares” released during the week that its major challenge in the country was to gather gas from more than 1,000 wells scattered over the Niger Delta which, it said, is larger than Portugal.
According to the company, this means building gas collection facilities at the oilfields and constructing an extensive pipeline network to carry the gas to an industrial facility where it is turned into a liquid for transport.
“Recent experience at Shell illustrates the challenges companies face as they try to put out flares. Shell reduced the amount of gas burned in oilfields by almost 60 percent between 2001 and 2007 as part of a decade-old commitment to halt the practice of continuous flaring by 2008. Shell, however, has struggled to meet that deadline, mainly due to security issues and funding difficulties with its main partners in Nigeria,” the company said.

The Environmental Rights Action/ Friends of the Earth, Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has condemned Tuesday's arrest and detention of its officers, community elders and some journalists at Iwherekan community, Delta State by soldiers guarding gas flaring sites operated by Shell. The group demands their immediate release and an apology from the military and Shell.

In a statement issued in Benin yesterday, ERA said some of its officers, community elders, women, children and journalists from national newspapers and televisions stations including the Federal Government- owned Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) were arrested during a community interactive forum on the impact of gas flaring.