afrol News, 9 June - The Royal Dutch Shell has finally agreed to settle a lawsuit worth $15.5 million out of court for its alleged involvement in the murder, torture and other abuses dating back to 1995 and perpetrated by Nigeria's former military government.

The settlement brought to an end a more than decade-long battle by relatives of Nigerian writer and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and others executed in 1995 in a campaign of repression backed by Shell according to Plaintiffs.

According to local reports, the legal action is one of the few cases brought under the US Alien Tort Statute that have been resolved in favour of the plaintiffs. The settlement includes establishment of a $5 million trust to benefit local communities in the Ogoni region.

UK-based Remember Saro-Wiwa project representative, Ben Amunwa said Shell has emerged guilty, stating that the settlement was only a means to keep the evidence of its crimes away from the scrutiny of a jury trial.

However, Shell and its Nigerian subsidiary have not conceded to the allegations by the Ogoni communities.

“Shell could not stand the damage of bad publicity around this human rights case. Global campaigners have helped to highlight Shell's abuses and we share in this historic victory,” Mr Amunwa told reporters.

The next phase of the struggle continues with another case with an Ogoni plaintiff pending in the New York District Court, and a further legal action in The Hague, Netherlands, where Royal Dutch Shell is headquartered.

The company faces a legal action there for repeated oil spills, brought by residents of the Niger Delta, with support from Friends of the Earth Netherlands and Friends of the Earth Nigeria.

The Ogoni people began non-violent action against Shell from the early 1990s, under the leadership of Ken Saro-Wiwa and his organisation Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People.

The ornaisation complained that the oil giant was responsible for devastating the ecosystem of the delta upon which Ogoni farmers and fishermen depend, through a combination of oil spills, forest clearance for pipelines and the burning of gas from oil-wells known as gas flares.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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