---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 16 Aug 2002 20:09:57 -0700
From: Carol D. McRoberts <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: [log in to unmask]
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [WASAN] women's growing role in Nigerian oil region crisis
FYI
Subject: [women-csd] women's growing role in Nigerian oil region crisis
> FYI:
> "ESCRAVOS" is the name of
> ChevronTexaco's oil export terminal
> in Nigeria
>
> Escravos is Portuguese, meaning "slaves".
>
> NIGERIA: Focus on the growing role of women in oil region crisis
>
> Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN)
> Web: www.irinnews.org
> email: [log in to unmask]
>
> IRIN-WA (West Africa)
> email: [log in to unmask]
> tel: +225 22-40-4440
> fax: +225 22-41-9339
>
> United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
>
> [This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
>
> LAGOS, 16 August (IRIN) - When a group of unarmed women protesters
occupied
> ChevronTexaco's main oil export terminal in Nigeria last month, they not
> only disrupted operations in a key oil facility, but also altered the
rules
> of engagement in the longstanding conflict in the Niger Delta oil region.
>
> Over the past decade, armed youths from impoverished communities in the
> region, located in the south of the country, have often taken oil workers
> hostage, sabotaged pipelines and disrupted oil operations to back demands
> for amenities and access to more of the oil wealth produced in their
> backyards.
>
> But after Olusegun Obasanjo, a retired general, was elected president in
> 1999, he acknowledged decades of neglect by previous governments. He then
> pledged to address the grievances of the ethnic minorities that inhabit
the
> Niger Delta, which accounts for most of the petroleum produced by the
> world's sixth largest exporter.
>
> However he also increased the military presence at key installations. On a
> number of occasions in the past two years, soldiers have opened fire on
> militant youths attempting to invade oil facilities, killing or wounding a
> significant number. This has acted as a deterrent and the result has been
a
> substantial decline in invasions recorded recently.
>
> But Obasanjo's inclination to concentrate oil revenue in the federal
> government, his reluctance to concede a bigger share to oil-region states,
> and the fact that his election promises have been slow to materialise
appear
> to have fueled a renewed surge of restiveness in the oil areas.
>
> The action of some 150 women aged between 30 and 90 who seized a
> ChevronTexaco boat and made it to the company's ESCRAVOS export terminal
> marked the first time women were entering the oil fray as a group. Their
> demands were the same ones the militant young men have always made: jobs
and
> amenities, including potable water and electricity for their villages.
>
> Their tactic was to occupy the airstrip, the helicopter pad and the docks,
> denying aircraft and sea vessels access to the facility, which is bordered
> by the Atlantic Ocean and crocodile-infested swamps and creeks. Invoking a
> very effective local taboo, they threatened to take off their clothes if
the
> security forces attacked them. Some 700 people, including Nigerian,
> American, Canadian and British employees of ChevronTexaco, were trapped at
> the Escravos facility for the 10 days the siege lasted.
>
> As the effectiveness of their action became obvious, more women joined
them,
> swelling the number to about 2,000. Hundreds of other women from
neighboring
> villages, copying their move, invaded other swamp facilities operated by
> ChevronTexaco and shut them down, making similar demands as their
> counterparts at Escravos. The occupations only ended after the oil company
> proposed agreements the concerned communities considered acceptable.
>
> While the siege lasted, the security forces assigned to the facilities
could
> only look on, apparently with strict instructions from the authorities not
> to engage the protesters.
>
> "The communities demonstrated some political sophistication by adopting a
> tactic which made nonsense of the government's military option," Mike
Agama,
> a political analyst, told IRIN. "The government, on its part, was only too
> aware of the political consequences of attacking unarmed women with the
> whole world watching."
>
> With the success of the women's action, several other communities in the
oil
> region threatened to take similar action. In fact, women from the Ilaje
> community began occupying one of ChevronTexaco's facilities on 14 August.
> Oil industry sources have indicated anxiety among oil transnationals in
> Nigeria as to who will be next.
>
> ChevronTexaco is only one of six major oil companies operating six joint
> ventures in which the Nigerian government has an average 57-percent stake.
> The biggest of the ventures is run by Royal/Dutch Shell. ChevronTexaco,
> Royal/Dutch Shell and ExxonMobil, TotalfinaElf, Agip and PanOcean Oil
> account for more than 95 percent of Nigeria's daily capacity of some two
> million barrels.
>
> In recent years the oil companies have been shifting more of their
> operations to deep offshore waters, where some prodigious oil finds have
> been made, far away from the restive communities. But the successful
> disruption of operations at the Escravos export terminal means that
> protesters may increasingly target exports rather than production.
>
> The uncertainties surrounding oil operations in Nigeria appear to have
> become a matter for serious concern in the United States, which buys about
> half of the daily exports of Africa's biggest oil producer.
>
> With violence raging in the Middle East, which has the world's largest
> reserves of crude oil, and the talk of the US attacking Iraq, the Gulf of
> Guinea, where Nigeria and Angola are the major producers, is an obvious
> alternative source of oil.
>
> US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Walter Kansteiner, who
> visited Nigeria for talks with Obasanjo on 25 July, just as last month's
oil
> sieges were ending, did not hide his government's concern about securing
the
> flow of oil from West Africa.
>
> "The Gulf of Guinea and the oil production that comes from it are very
> important not only to the United States but to the entire oil-consuming
> world," Kansteiner told reporters. "It is a strategic interest that we are
> keen to see oil production and exploration continue in the region."
>
> Moreover, Nigeria is dependent on oil exports for more than 95 percent of
> its foreign income. With disruptions sometimes cutting exports by up to a
> third, the question that arises is how long will the government remain
> patient in dealing with the women protesters?
>
> An indication emerged following another protest march (on 8 August) by
women
> in the oil town of Warri. They besieged the operational headquarters of
> ChevronTexaco and Shell with placards accusing the companies of polluting
> their environment, and forced work to stop. According to newspaper
reports,
> a woman was shot dead after a soldier fired into the crowd to disperse the
> protesters.
>
> However, it appears that a high-handed response from the federal
government
> would not be enough to extinguish the zeal of the highly mobilised
> inhabitants of the Niger Delta to continue their campaign for a higher
share
> of Nigeria's oil wealth.
>
> The communities enjoy the tacit support of their state governments. The
> ultimate objective is a 50:50 split of oil revenue between the federal and
> regional administrations. At the moment, the federal government takes 87
> percent and the state government of each oil region gets 13 percent.
>
> "Thirteen percent is nonsense," David Ejoor, a retired major-general who
was
> governor of part of the Niger Delta during Nigeria's 1967-70 civil war,
told
> reporters recently. Ejoor, now an oil-region activist, takes an ominous
view
> of the future: "Until they go to 50:50 the area will not be
satisfied...and
> if nothing is done, the people will just break away from Nigeria."
>
> [ENDS]
>
> IRIN-WA
> Tel: +225 22-40-4440
> Fax: +225 22-41-9339
> Email: [log in to unmask]
> [This Item is Delivered to the "Africa-English" Service of the UN's IRIN
> humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views
> of the United Nations. For further information, free subscriptions, or
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>
> Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2002
>
>
>
>
>
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