Oil delta still subject to brutal repression from security forces

Brutal repression of protests remains a routine tactic of Nigerian government security forces in the oil-rich Niger Delta, 10 years after nine minority rights campaigners were hanged by a military ruler, rights group Amnesty International said in a new report on Thursday. Communities in the impoverished southern oil region that dare protest actions against oil multinationals running joint ventures with the government are frequently subjected to “collective punishment” by security forces, said Amnesty. “The inhabitants of communities suspected of obstructing oil production or harbouring criminals are sometimes targeted by the security forces,” said the report. The report -- Ten years on: injustice and violence haunt the oil Delta -- focuses on two cases in February this year which it says illustrates the heavy-handedness of the Nigerian security forces. Soldiers from a special government task force set up to quell violent unrest in the oil region fired on protesters that attempted to march to the Escravos oil export terminal run by Chevron on 4 February. One protestor named as Bawo Ajeboghuku, later died of gunshot wounds and at least 30 more people were injured, some by blows from rifle butts. Days later, at least 17 people were killed by members of the same task force during a raid on Odioma town in Bayelsa state in pursuit of an armed gang believed to have killed a local politician. When the suspects were not caught, the security forces razed “80 percent of the homes in Odioma,” and the dead included 105-year-old woman Balasanyun Omieh and her two-year-old grandchild, according to Amnesty. The frequent resort to repressive violence shows not much has changed since the military government of General Sani Abacha hanged writer and environmental campaigner, Ken Saro-Wiwa in 1995 following a murder trial widely condemned as flawed said the rights group. Despite the end of 15 years of military rule with the election of President Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999, people in the region are still subjected to very serious human rights abuses. “Niger Delta communities see little of Nigeria’s oil revenues,” said the report. “The only visible government presence in many parts is a heavily-armed security apparatus.” Nigerian government officials were not immediately available for comment.