Ogoni

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Ogoni Flag by Ken Saro-Wiwa

The Ogoni are an ethnic group in Nigeria .

The half a million people live mostly east of Port Harcourt in the Niger Delta , also called Ogoniland , with an area of ​​about 1,000 km². The inhabitants of the Niger Delta are threatened by environmental pollution linked to oil production by Royal Dutch Shell . The cause is leaking crude oil, which pollutes agricultural land, waters used for fishing and natural habitats (e.g. mangrove forest). The simultaneous burning of natural gas (associated gas) is the reason for considerable air pollution.

Around 80 percent of Nigerian oil is produced in this region and the Shell Group earned an estimated 100 billion US dollars from the production from 1958 to 1993. In the interests of the country's oil industry, around 23 Ogoni villages were destroyed by 1993.

The Ogoni are resisting the destruction of their livelihoods and strive with the 1990 founded Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) (Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People) their autonomy to.

The goals of the MOSOP were a. the political and cultural autonomy for the Ogoni, the rehabilitation of the areas damaged by oil production, as well as the participation of the population in the income from the oil production. These goals should be achieved without the use of any violence. To this end, MOSOP launched several demonstrations, some of which were very successful.

The oil company Shell stopped oil production in the Ogoni area after MOSOP launched a demonstration in January 1993, in which more than half of the Ogoni population - around 300,000 people - took part. Due to such actions, however, the Ogoni area was militarily occupied by the government in the same year . However, MOSOP continues to oppose a resumption of oil production by Shell.

After 1993, the organization was chaired by the writer, civil rights activist and holder of the Right Livelihood Award Ken Saro-Wiwa , who was hanged in November 1995 by the military government under Sani Abacha along with eight fellow campaigners . His execution attracted international attention. He last wrote from prison: “Living I am a symbol of resistance. Dead I am becoming a martyr and thus even more dangerous. ”In response, Nigeria was expelled from the Commonwealth of Nations with immediate effect .

In September 1993 there were serious clashes with the Andoni ethnic group , in which an estimated 1,000 Ogoni were killed and more than 30,000 had to flee their homes. MOSOP blames the government and the oil companies that are said to have encouraged and financed the Andoni for this.

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