Read JINN’s Special Report and Watch Video Smuggled out of Nigeria

“The JTF people have blocked the waterways. One of my sisters has been missing. Nobody seems to know her whereabouts. The military people were using their helicopter chopper to destroy everything we have ever had. I saw war with my naked eyes.”

JINN updates the story in the aftermath of the 2009 bombings by the Nigerian military which displaced an estimated 20,000 mostly poor villagers from the villages of Oporoza, Kurutie and  Okerenkoko, among others. Project Censored recognized JINN’s work in getting this story out.

Watch this shocking cell phone video – The village of Okerenkoko was destroyed in 2009 by what appears to be a military bombing. The footage was shot by Timmy Guwor.

Read Senator John Kerry’s Statement on the Need to Protect Civilians in the Niger Delta

Read Senator Russ Feingold’s Statement on the Military Violence

Read Amnesty International’s Statement on Citizens Caught in the Cross-Fire

On Wednesday, May 13, 2009 the Nigerian military Joint Task Force (JTF) commenced the land, water and aerial bombardment of a large area in the Niger Delta called the Gbaramatu Kingdom that includes the villages of Oporoza, Kurutie, Kunukunuma, Kokodiagbene, Okerenkoko, Azama, Benikurukuru and Ubefan, under the guise of attacking a MEND militant Camp. Reports suggest that thousands of civilians have been killed.

Displaced women and children taking refuge at the relief camp at Ogbeh-Ijoh

Residents of the villages and those visiting for a festival on the day the bombing began were forced to flee their homes and villages. They are hiding in the bush and do not have adequate food or medical supplies. The JTF has not allowed humanitarian aid groups or journalists into the area. As of May 20 the coordinated aerial and ground attacks by the JTF and mass starvation continues. Reports suggest that this was a well planned attack with the possible collusion of State government officials.

On May 20 several groups in the US sent a joint letter to the International Criminal Court’s Office of the Prosecutor to call for an immediate investigation of the military violence in the Delta.

JINN supports the demands of several civil society groups in the Niger Delta and abroad to:

• Demand immediate ceasefire

• Conduct independent third party monitored diplomatic negotiations between all stakeholder

• Allow full and unfettered access to Gbaramatu Kingdom (the locus of the intense Nigerian military campaign)  for journalists, humanitarian aid groups and human rights NGO’s

• Address the root causes of unrest in the Delta by investing in development of the region including clean water, electricity, schools and hospitals as well as an environmental audit and mitigations for damage caused.

Read the letter to the ICC

Read Eyewitness Accounts

Read Statements by Community Groups in the Delta

Read News Coverage of the Attacks

Recent Violence in Context

Read “Operation Restore Hope”

A secret JTF Nigerian military document leaked nearly a year in advance of the bombings in the Niger Delta beginning in May 2009, “Operation Restore Hope” foretold of an assault on militants and was reported in the Nigerian media.