appeal for liberation of hostages in Nigeria, for human rights for Nigerians

["mary" <humdrum2 at libero.it>]

Call for the liberation of the engineers who were kidnapped in Nigeria and for the recognition of the rights of Nigerians to life, health and freedom

 

FREE THE HOSTAGES,

FREE THE NIGERIANS FROM POLLUTION

 

On 7 December 2006 Francesco Arena, Roberto Draghi, Cosma Russo and the Lebanese Imad Saliba, ENI engineers who were working on the extraction of natural gas in the area of the River Niger delta were kidnapped. MEND (Movement for the Emancipation of the Nigerian Delta) claimed responsibility for the kidnapping.

 

At a month’s distance from the kidnapping, we are appealing to the Italian government so that it acts concretely and in an effective manner for the liberation of the hostages. It is now clear that MEND is not asking for money in order to release the hostages. MEND is a political movement that is asking for political recognition of its motivations.

 

MEND was formed as a response to the brutal and violent exploitation of the natural resources of Nigeria by the multinational companies. For a very long time, the populations of the Niger delta – the area of Nigeria in which oil and natural gas are extracted from – have been subject to severe repression. Because of the drillings that had been made without any respect for the environment, the land has been polluted, as well as bringing about the contamination of the air and water. Immense gas fires devastate and pollute the environment. Agriculture has been compromised, the water aquifers have been poisoned, the people are becoming sick and dying from cancer due to the fumes that they constantly are inhaling.

 

Underway in the Niger delta is an ecological catastrophe. MEND is a movement that is comprised mostly of Christians who, after having tried in vain to make their pleas be known by pacific means, have decided to make the multinational companies responsible for this catastrophe leave. Oil and gas have never brought profit to the people of Nigeria. It is only a small group of elites in government who has become wealthy over the heads of the majority of the population who instead has been persecuted, impoverished and polluted.

 

Must we bring to mind that on 10 November 1995 Ken Saro Wiwa was hanged, together with other environmental activists in Nigeria? Ken Saro Wiwa was a poet, a playwright, a human rights activist, and for this he was also a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize.

 

He lead a pacific, non-violent rebellion against the multinationals for the populations of the Niger delta (the Ogoni). The Ogoni were asking for the cleaning of the oil overspills and toxic residue as well as compensation for the damages that they had to bear. As a reaction to this plea, the Nigerian government destroyed, from 1993 onwards, 20 of the cities that were inhabited by the Ognoni, killing 1,800 people and creating 50,000 homeless people. Since then, the repression of the Nigerian government – which has put itself at the service of the gas and oil multinationals – has been terrible.

 

While an international boycott against Shell was launched, something happened that touches us closer to home. In fact, ENI, thanks to its good relationship with the Nigerian government, concluded with a substantial contract for the supply of liquid natural gas, destined to feed the Italian regassifiers.

 

All of this is immoral.

 

We must denounce this and it is our fervent wish that all of this information reaches the public. It would permit them to better understand the problems that the Italian engineers who are working in the Niger delta are facing. Only in this way can we be able to explain the resentment of the local populations towards us as well as the risks that the Italian workers are running, when they are sent without a safety net to Nigeria, risking their own lives in an absolutely inhospitable context.

 

Only by understanding this rage that the local populations feel can we make steps towards liberating the engineers who had been kidnapped in Nigeria.

 

We do not accept the violent methods of MEND, but we recognise that MEND has many good reasons to protest.

 

We must remove our economic violence – sustained by the repressive violence of the Nigerian government that our government supports – to which the guerrillas respond with the violence of arms.

 

We believe that only through serious dialogue are we able to begin to recognise, understand and remove the causes of the rebellion, in that way obtaining the liberation of the kidnapped workers.

 

For this reason, we call for a just solution to the controversy that will bring about an environmental cleaning financed by the multinational companies, compensation to the local populations for the damages that they are subject to, as well as a policy that consents the poorest people to benefit from the exploitation of their resources and the release of those who have been unjustly arrested.

 

We commit ourselves so that the families of the kidnapped workers can have their loved ones at home as soon as possible. At the same time, we are committed so that the populations of Nigeria do not have to be polluted, repressed and killed in the name of gas and oil.

 

We ask – to anyone who shares this appeal with us – to sign it and let it reach the Italian government.

 

On the politics of the Minister of Foreign “Affairs”, the politics of human rights must prevail. Such universal rights must always precede the logic of business affairs and profits.

 

In the name of these principles, we ask for the liberation of the kidnapped engineers.

 

 

Padre Alex Zanotelli - Missionary

Giuseppe De Marzo - Association A Sud

Alessandro Marescotti - PeaceLink, Internet network for peace

To sign this appeal, please write to:
volontari at peacelink.it  

 

We bring to note these articles, closely related to the problems that are indicated in the appeal

Blood on the regassifiers (in Italian) on PeaceLink

http://italy.peacelink.org/ecologia/articles/art_18392.html

Nigeria: A country kidnapped by the multinationals (in Italian)

(A Sud - Ecologia e cooperazione ONLUS)

http://www.asud.net/doceboCms/index.php?mn=news&pi=2_29&id=30 

 

 

Rome, 8 January 2007

 

Translated by Mary Rizzo, member of Tlaxcala (www.tlaxcala.es) network of translators for diversity linguistica. This translation is on Copyleft, it may be freely reproduced, citing the source.