Jamaica Observer: Nigerian activists accuse Shell of backing military: Nigerian activists accused oil giant Royal Dutch/Shell Group yesterday of backing new military deployments in the Niger Delta, threatening protests and giving the company a seven-day ultimatum to "stop further acts of hostility." (ShellNews.net)
AP
Friday, October 22, 2004
LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) - Nigerian activists accused oil giant Royal Dutch/Shell Group yesterday of backing new military deployments in the Niger Delta, threatening protests and giving the company a seven-day ultimatum to "stop further acts of hostility."
Shell and the military denied the accusation.
A spokesman for the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP) said that Nigerian soldiers and paramilitary forces had recently deployed around abandoned Shell pipeline facilities in Ogoni territory.
Thousands of Nigerian troops have deployed in the Niger Delta over the past two months in response to a rebellion that has sent jitters through world oil markets.
But Shell and a spokesman for the Nigerian military denied yesterday that troops had been sent to guard Shell facilities, and the company said it had no intention of restarting operations in Ogoniland by force.
"Shell is committed to dialogue and will continue to explore this means in the resolution of crisis," a company statement said.
Shell was forced to abandon drilling on Ogoni territory in the mid-1990s following violent protests led by MOSOP, which accused the company of cheating them out of oil royalties and polluting their land.