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Two communities compensated for oil spill

    ABIDJAN

    A Federal High Court in Benin, western Nigeria, has awarded 245.81 million naira (about US $2.4 million) to two communities in Rivers State in the southeast in compensation for an oil spill five years ago traced to Shell Petroleum Development Corporation, newspapers in Lagos reported on Monday.

    Compensation went to the Dubaro community in the Ken-Khana local council and the Bean community. Ken-Khana lies in the heart of Ogoniland, an area that has been demanding that oil companies clean up environmental damage caused by their activities. The lawyer for Dubaro said in court that the community's main occupations - lumbering, fishing and farming - were disrupted by the oil leak.

    Shell blamed the spill on sabotage of one of its flow stations on 31 July 1994 by "third parties, known and unknown", who were sympathisers of the late Ken Saro-Wiwa's Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, MOSOP.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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