Shell accused of fuelling violence in Nigeria by paying rival militant gangs

David Smith

The Guardian

October 2, 2011

Shell has fu­elled armed conflict in Nige­ria by paying hun­dreds of thou­sands of dollars to feuding mili­tant groups, accord­ing to an inves­tigation by the oil indus­try watchdog Platform, and a coalition of non-govern­ment organ­i­sa­tions.
The oil gi­ant is implicated in a decade of human rights abuses in the Niger delta, the study says, claiming that its rou­tine pay­ments exac­erbated local vio­lence, in one case leading to the deaths of 60 people and the de­struc­tion of an entire town.
Platform's inves­tigation, which includes tes­ti­mo­ny from Shell's own man­agers, also al­leges that govern­ment forces hired by Shell per­pe­trated atrocities against local civil­ians,                       

including unlawful killings and system­at­ic tor­ture.

Shell dis­putes the report, defending its human rights record and question­ing the accuracy of the ev­idence, but has pledged to study the rec­ommendations.
In Count­ing the Cost: Corporations and Human Rights in the Niger Delta, Platform says that it has seen tes­ti­mo­ny and con­tracts that implicate Shell in the reg­ular award­ing of lucrative con­tracts to mili­tants. In one case last year, Shell is said to have trans­ferred more than $159,000 (£102,000) to a group cred­ibly linked to militia vio­lence.
One gang member, Chukwu Azikwe, told Platform: "We were giv­en mon­ey and that is the mon­ey we were us­ing to buy ammu­nition, to buy this bul­let, and ev­ery oth­er thing to eat       

and to sustain the war." He said his gang and its lead­er, SK Agala, had vandalised Shell pipe­lines. "They will pay ransom. Some of them in the man­age­ment will bring out mon­ey, dole out mon­ey into this place, in cash."

The gang became locked in com­pe­tition witha rival group over access to oil mon­ey, with pay­ments to one faction provoking a vio­lent re­action from the oth­er. "The [rival gang] will come and fight, some will die, just to enable           

them to also get [a] share. So the place now becomes a con­test ground for warring factions. Who takes over the community has the at­tention of the compa­ny."

Platform al­leges that it was high­ly likely that Shell knew that thou­sands of dollars paid per month to mili­tants in the town of Rumuekpe was used to sustain a bitter conflict. "Armed gangs waged pitched bat­tles over access to oil mon­ey, which Shell dis­tributed to whichev­er gang con­trolled access to its infras­truc­ture."
Rumuekpe is "the main artery of Shell's east­ern op­erations in Rivers state", with aroundabout 100,000 barrels of oil flowing per day, approxi­mately10% of Shell's dai­ly production in the country. Shell dis­tributed "community devel­op­ment" funds and con­tracts via Friday Edu, a youth lead­er and Shell