26kb Jpeg More than 14% of Shell's worldwide oil production comes from
Nigeria.
As a major investor in Nigeria, and as a company which depends
on the rule of law and stability in the countries where it
operates Shell cannot and should not stay silent when a
country's constitution is so clearly breached, with such violent
and unjust consequences, as has happened in this case.
One of the main reasons that Ken Saro-Wiwa and other Ogoni
leaders are now facing the death penalty is because of their
campaigns against the environmental devastation caused by the oil
industry in general and Shell in particular.
Greenpeace calls on Shell International's chairman, John
Jennings, to publicly state his unambiguous opposition to
environmental activists of any sort being targeted through unjust
and unconstitutional means, as has happened in this case.
In the USA, a Greenpeace demonstration is currently underway at
the Shell headquarters in Washington DC (I Street).
"With profitablity comes responsibility and Shell should use
their undoubted influence on the Nigerian authorities to stop the
tragic deaths of Ken Saro Wiwa and the Ogoni. Furthermore, Shell
should state that they will operate in Nigeria to the same
standards and requirements for their best practice world-wide.
If they cannot do this then they should leave Nigeria," said
Horsman.
For information: Cindy Baxter Greenpeace Communications
++44 171 833 0600
"It is extraordinary that Governments right around the world have
condemned the death sentences of the Ogoni people but Shell,
which has actually been working in Ogoniland, has not offered a
single word of regret," said Paul Horsman of Greenpeace
International.
