Victims of 1990s Nigerian Violence Given Date of Trial

Victims of the Nigerian government's violent crackdown on residents of oil-rich lands where Royal Dutch Shell had drilling operations during the 1990s, may finally reach their goal to challenge the deaths and injuries in a U.S. court.

The date, 9 February was set by U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood, for a trial stemming from two lawsuits accusing Royal Dutch Shell PLC of being complicit in decisions by Nigeria's military government to hang oil industry opponents.

Wood tried to resolve lingering issues of dispute but conceded that there might have to be a separate trial later to resolve a third related lawsuit, during a hearing on Tuesday.

Playwright Ken Saro-Wiwa and at least five other oil industry opponents were executed in 1995, after a military tribunal convicted them of murdering four political rivals. Their heirs filed a lawsuit in federal court in Manhattan the next year.

The plaintiffs contend the victims were tried by an illegally constituted military tribunal and falsely convicted of murder.

Saro-Wiwa and other activists had been protesting oil exploration and development in Nigeria's Ogoni region, saying the activity had profoundly damaged the environment.

Shell was once a major driller in the oil-rich region. The lawsuit alleged Shell made payments and provided arms to security forces that it knew abused local communities.

Wood said she must still rule whether the plaintiffs can introduce at trial an internal Shell report that they say goes to the heart of their case.

Plaintiffs' attorney Carey R. D'Avino said it included the results of interviews with Shell employees about disturbances in Nigeria and Shell's relationship with the Nigerian government and its military.

According to D'Avino, the document says Shell's "mode of operation in Nigeria exacerbates conflicts in the local communities."

Thomas Rafferty, a lawyer for the Royal Dutch Petroleum Co. and Shell Transport and Trading Co. PLC, said the report should be disqualified from use at trial because it was prepared long after the events at issue in the case occurred.

He said Shell oil production in Ogoni ended in the early 1990s. D'Avino said there are still Shell facilities in Nigeria, however.

In a release, Ken Saro-Wiwa Jr., the playwright's son, said the family was greatly encouraged that a trial seems imminent, granting his father's wish that Shell be forced into court.

Militants have waged a campaign of attacks on oil installations in Nigeria in recent years, seeking to force the nation's government to send more oil-industry revenues to their impoverished areas. The attacks helped send global oil prices surging to all-time highs earlier this year.

A spokesman for Nigeria's state oil company said last month that militant attacks are now cutting the country's daily oil production by about 1 million barrels a day, or 40% of what the country produced before the militant campaign began three years ago.

Author: Jo Amey