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Human rights groups call for sanctions against Nigeria

Human rights, environmental and Nigerian opposition groups are calling for the isolation of the Nigerian military regime following the execution of nine minority rights activists in November.

A week after the executions were carried out, a coalition of groups including the Body Shop, the Ogoni Community Association and Greenpeace called for an international embargo on all Nigerian oil and gas products and the freezing of foreign bank accounts of Nigerian military leaders.

They said that these actions should be used to press Nigeria for demands such as the release of all political prisoners in Nigeria and the immediate withdrawal of military troops from the Ogoni area.

On 10 November, in defiance of world opinion, the Nigerian military regime hung nine members of the minority Ogoni ethnic group from southern Nigeria. The nine included the writer and campaigner Ken Saro-Wiwa. He was the leader of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People which campaigned for Ogoni rights and against oil pollution.

The trial against the nine had been denounced as unjust by government leaders around the world, including John Major. It was heard before a Special Tribunal, chosen by the military government.

There was no right of appeal and two of the prosecution witnesses claimed they had been bribed to make them ‘confess’. One of the men who was executed had been brought before the tribunal only after he refused under torture to give evidence against Saro-Wiwa.

Although many governments expressed outrage after the executions and Nigeria was suspended from the Commonwealth, they have been cautious about taking further steps such as an oil embargo. But environmental groups are urging both national governments and Shell, which extracts over 50 per cent of oil in Nigeria, to consider their long-term interest in securing democracy in Nigeria.

Some campaigners believe an oil embargo would be effective in encouraging change in Nigeria within a matter of months since oil accounts for around 90 per cent of Nigeria’s exports. Ken Saro-Wiwa himself called for an oil embargo a few months before he was executed. He believed this was the only way to bring change. Most oil profits go straight to the military, with only a tiny percentage spent in the oil-producing regions. This was the main focus of Ken Saro-Wiwa’s campaigning and the direct cause of his death.