ACTION ALERT: SAY NO TO VIOLENCE AGAINST DELTA WOMEN

ADVOCACY RESOURCES
ACTION ALERT: SAY NO TO VIOLENCE AGAINST DELTA WOMEN
"We were just singing, we didn't destroy anything. We were peaceful. The
police and soldiers misbehaved. Look at me, 7 armed soldiers pounced on me
and reduced me to nothing. I found myself in a Shell clinic, a day after the
protest."
-Mrs Alice Youwuren (widow) 50 years old mother of 7.Ugwagwu Community,
Itsekiri.

"The rivers they are polluting is our life and death. We depend on it for
everything. When this situation became unbearable, we decided to come
together to protest. Ijaw, Itsekiri and Ilaje we are one, we are brothers
and
sisters, it is only people who don't understand that think we are fighting
ourselves".
-Mrs. Bimpe Ebi, 34 years old mother of 5.From Awoye Community in Ilaje

"We insisted on dialogue with the oil companies, but the soldiers refused
and
started kicking us with their boots, they flogged us, they wounded us. As I
am talking to you, 3 of our women are still missing. As we are disgraced
this
way, those of us remaining will go there and let them kill us. We don't want
Shell, Chevron, Texaco or any of the oil companies again".
-Mrs. Rose Miebi (Widow) 36 years old, mother of six children, an Ijaw.

WOMEN CONTINUE PROTEST AGAINST OIL VIOLENCE
In the past weeks, oil-bearing communities in the western flank of the Niger
Delta have been witnessing a rising tempo of resistance to the violence of
the oil and gas industry. The protests are being organised by women whose
local industries such as fishing and farming and livelihood have been
destroyed by transnational oil companies, ChevronTexaco and Shell. From July
8, when women from Itsekiri communities occupied Chevron's oil terminal,
more
women from the Gbaramatu, Egbema and Urhobo communities have blockaded
Chevron flow stations in Delta State as the wave of women protests spread.
The impoverished women, long neglected and forced to bear the burden of
dwindling harvest and income are now demanding for a clean environment
conducive for survival, jobs for their children, hospitals, safe drinking
water and support for livelihood ventures such as poultry
farming.

UNITING FOR JUSTICE
In the past, there have been reports of communal conflicts involving the
different ethnic groups in the Warri area of Delta State, as the oil
companies and the state benefit from "divide and rule". But on August 8,
hundreds of women from the Itsekiri, Ijaw and Ilaje ethnic groups united to
march to western operational headquarters of two major oil and gas producing
companies in the country - Shell and ChevronTexaco. As early as 6.30am, the
protesting women who were armed with placards and green leaves sang
solidarity songs to protest years of plunder of their natural environment by
the European and US oil companies. Their mission was to
barricade the gates of the companies to compel them to stop the flaring of
dangerous
gasses. But in a characteristic manner, armed soldiers and mobile policemen
of the
"Operation Fire-for-Fire", invited by Shell unleashed raw terror on the
women. Scores of them were seriously injured as soldiers used wire whips on
the women and "kicked them like football". 4 soldiers and 3 mobile policemen
who attacked her beat Mrs. Alice Youwuren, a Widow and mother of 7 from
Ugwagwu-Itsekiri community to a state of unconsciousness. She was admitted
at
Shell Clinic at Ogunu in Warri.
Other women jumped into a nearby stream to escape from the melee. The women
say 3 of them have not been found since then. NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT MUTE AS
WOMEN VOW TO CONTINUE PROTESTS. The government of Nigeria have maintained a
total silence to the women protests and the action of their security forces,
despite the calls by the women for government intervention. Speaking to
leaders of government sponsored National Council of Women Societies who
visited Warri from Abuja on August 13, a spokesperson for the protesting
women said the women will continue the protests until the Nigerian
government
and the oil companies create the condition for the discussion their demands,
which include an immediate end to gas flaring and payment of compensation
for
the years of pollution and destruction by transnational oil and gas
companies. "KILL AND GO" POLICE
With the last action of the oil companies and the Nigerian security forces,
there are fears that the oil companies and the state will deploy more troops
to brutalise or kill the women as they continue their protests.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:
a.. Continue to tell ChevronTexaco, Shell and the Nigerian government you
support the demands of the women and their communities for a safe and
conducive environment necessary for their survival.
b. Continue to tell ChevronTexaco, Shell and the Nigerian
government to meet the women's demands for jobs for their children, support
for
education and health services, and economic support for fishing and poultry
farming
demands.
c. Tell ChevronTexaco, Shell and the Nigerian government you condemn their
practice of relying on the mobile police and soldiers to violently attack
women protesters and that you demand a just and non-violent resolution.
d. Support the demand of the women that their wounded be treated
by the Nigerian government, ChevronTexaco and Shell.

Write to:
The President
Federal Republic of Nigeria
State House
Abuja, Nigeria
The Managing Director
ChevronTexaco Nigeria
2 Chevron Drive
Lekki Peninsula, Lagos, Nigeria
Fax: +234 1 2600395

The Managing Director
Shell Nigeria
21/22 Marina, Lagos, Nigeria
Fax: 234 1 2636681
In the United States CALL or FAX ChevronTexaco Overseas Petroleum
Inc.
Phone: 925 842 0333 Fax: 925 842 3886

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For more information/reports contact:
ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS ACTION/ FRIENDS OF THE EARTH (FoE, Nigeria)
+ Oilwatch
Africa.
International Secretariat: #214, Uselu-Lagos Road, P. O. Box
10577, Benin City, Nigeria. Tel/Fax: + 234 52 600165
Email:[email protected]
Port Harcourt: # 13 Agudama Street, D-Line, Port Harcourt
Tel: +234 84 236365 email: [email protected]
Lagos:# 1 Balogun Street, Ikeja E-mail: [email protected]