“What we need now is immediate clean up”, said leader Sorbarikor Demua to Real World Radio. In Ogoniland, the oil industry, especially the Anglo-Dutch company Shell and its operations for decades have caused a "disaster", said the community representative. Oil spills and the ongoing gas flaring are part of a serious reality, that has led Shell to face several international lawsuits.

The inhabitants of the region demand the area to be cleaned, according to what the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) established. On August 4th, this organization published a report on the serious environmental degradation caused by Shell in Ogoniland.

Oil pollution is widespread there and the majority of people have been exposed to it most of their lives, states the report by UNEP. It also adds that hydrocarbon pollution has reached underground waters in 41 places and benzene (a carcinogenic chemical) was found in the water drank by the population at levels which are 900 times higher than those accepted by the World Health Organization.

The research was conducted by 50 international academics in a period of two years. Over 200 places in Ogoniland were analyzed, over 5000 medical charts were read and 23 thousand people participated in the meetings with local communities.

The report confirms that Shell did not comply with the Environment Guidelines and Standards for the Petroleum Industry in Nigeria, its own standards, and of course, with international regulations. The UNEP study also found that the fishing activity in Ogoniland was destroyed and that the wetlands of the area are severely degraded.
The UN body included some recommendations related to monitoring and environmental remediation. For instance, it established the creation of an Environmental Restoration Fund for Ogoniland with an initial amount of 1 billion dollars to be paid by Shell and the Nigerian government. Cleaning up the area could take 25-30 years.

Demua demands the governments of the countries gathered at the COP on Climate in Durban to enforce the UN resolutions in Ogoniland.
“I’m here to join the people, to say enough is enough”, said the leader to Real World Radio, tired of the destroyed farmlands, the impacts on cattle, the loss of fisheries, the pollution of water and the sad diseases.

“Shell has actually devastated our land. They have replaced our land that was full of food with emptiness”, Demua said. “The place is a mess”, she regretted, and complained about the fact the national government is not supporting the Ogoni people because it is benefitting from the oil company.

Nevertheless, the community will not stop fighting for their lands to be cleaned, and some leaders came to Durban to participate in the mobilizations and make their problems be known. They also demand that they let the “oil remain under the soil”.

At the end of the interview Demua remembered the leader Ken Saro-Wiwa, who was murdered by the Nigerian Dictatorship on November 10, 1995, together with eight activists, after being persecuted and arrested several times. His crimes? He was the founder in 1990 of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People to protest against the pollution caused by the oil companies in Ogoniland. The renowned poet led mobilizations and was the spokesperson of the Movement. The dictatorship sentenced him to death under false charges of murder, in a legal process that didn’t allow him to defend himself.

In prison, Saro-Wiwa wrote a defense declaration which was silenced by the Nigerian dictatorship. “In my innocence of the false charges I face here, in my utter conviction, I call upon the Ogoni people, the peoples of the Niger delta, and the oppressed ethnic minorities of Nigeria to stand up now and fight fearlessly and peacefully for their rights. History is on their side. God is on their side”, read part of the text.

“We remember him every day”, said Demua about Saro-Wiwa, at the end of a mobilization in Durban for climate justice. In this context the leader stated that this day was special to remember Saro-Wiwa, who rebelled against injustice. "This is the cause he stand, this is what he stand, this is what he died, and that is why we are here, we will always remember him", concluded Demua.

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/foei