"(S)hell in Nigeria"? Ken Saro-Wiwa en die stryd van die Ogoni

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to analyse and put into historical perspective the struggle in which Nigeria's Ogoni people has been involved against that country's federal government as well as the Shell oil company since 1988. The role played by the charismatic Ogoni politician and writer Ken Saro-Wiwa until his execution on 10 November 1995, is highlighted in particular. Against the background of Saro-Wiwa's life and work, the history of the Ogoni people and of oil production in Nigeria, the role of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), the Ogoni revolts of 1990 until 1994 and the Goikoo murders of 21 May 1994 will be discussed and analysed. It becomes clear that the Ogoni people themselves became very divided as a result of the nature and scope of their struggle against Shell Nigeria and the federal government, and that Ken Saro-Wiwa was a controversial figure who was not as completely innocent as portrayed in the media at that time and even· today. Light is also shed throughout on topical environmental and human rights issues.