Disir
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The British government rejected Nelson Mandela’s personal appeal to impose oil sanctions on Nigeria after its military regime executed nine environmental activists in 1995 as it wanted to protect oil company Shell’s commercial interests, newly declassified files reveal.
The British files, released under the country’s declassification rules, show that UK officials sought “to take some of the heat out of the sanctions debate” that raged after the hanging of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other members of Nigeria’s Ogoni community.
Saro-Wiwa had led a non-violent protest campaign against pollution by Anglo-Dutch company Shell and other energy firms in the oil-rich Niger Delta. The so-called “Ogoni 9” were executed on 10 November 1995, following a military tribunal that was condemned internationally, especially by South Africa’s President Nelson Mandela.
Declassified UK: REVEALED: Britain rebuffed Nelson Mandela’s appeal for oil sanctions against Nigeria after it executed environmentalists
Is anyone shocked?
The British files, released under the country’s declassification rules, show that UK officials sought “to take some of the heat out of the sanctions debate” that raged after the hanging of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other members of Nigeria’s Ogoni community.
Saro-Wiwa had led a non-violent protest campaign against pollution by Anglo-Dutch company Shell and other energy firms in the oil-rich Niger Delta. The so-called “Ogoni 9” were executed on 10 November 1995, following a military tribunal that was condemned internationally, especially by South Africa’s President Nelson Mandela.
Declassified UK: REVEALED: Britain rebuffed Nelson Mandela’s appeal for oil sanctions against Nigeria after it executed environmentalists
Is anyone shocked?
