Re-posted from All Voices
By AkanimoReports

ENVIRONMENTAL rights advocacy groups in the Niger Delta, Nigeria’s main oil and gas region, have joined Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) in expressing strong concerns over the stated agenda of the United States and a number of other developed countries at the forthcoming United Nations climate talks in Durban, South Africa, from November 28 to December 9.

Co-ordinator of the Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development (CEHRD), Mr. Patrick Naagbanton, told AkanimoReports in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, yesterday that the global grassroots environmental federation is calling on other governments to stop these countries from undermining the globally-agreed framework for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and to ensure stronger targets for legally binding emissions cuts in line with science and equity.

The climate talks have been deadlocked since the beginning of the decade because of the failure of developed countries – those historically responsible for the bulk of the climate-changing emissions – to deliver on their moral and legal obligations for climate action.

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photo credit: Kendra E. Thornbury
http://www.sweetcrudemovie.com/photoGallery.php?SECTION=1&SHOW_GALLERY=YES&DB_OFFSET=15

Last week, the historic trial against Shell oil filed by the family of Ken Saro-Wiwa and others was delayed by one more week. According to the article by the AFP, the Judge Kimba Wood gave no explanation for the delay:

NEW YORK (AFP) — A pre-trial conference scheduled in the potentially landmark lawsuit brought by Nigerian plaintiffs against oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has been delayed until Wednesday, court papers show. Read Full Article

Ogoni Activist Suanu Bere speaks at San Francisco Shell protest. credit: Jan Sturmann

However, protests and rallies that began on May 19 for Shell’s shareholder meeting in the Hague and in London continued last week to call on Shell to end gas flaring in the Niger Delta – a demand that Wiwa and the Ogoni’s were asking for over 15 years ago and people of the Delta are still asking today.

JINN led the Bay Area protest with a large banner that read:  “Shell:  Stop Gas Flaring in Nigeria” and signs that read:  “Remember Ken Saro-Wiwa  and Shell:  Stop  Toxic Flares in Nigeria”

San Francisco activists hold Shell protest on May 19 - the day of Shell's shareholder meeting. credit: Jan Sturmann

Bere Suanu, an Ogoni from Nigeria spoke about how the Nigerian military tortured him at a time when Shell was paying the Nigerian military to quell protests in Ogoniland.

Then, on May 26 – the day the trail was set to begin – activists in South Africa led by groundWork held a solidarity rally to bring attention to the trial in New York and Shell’s dirty operations in Durban, South Africa

Activists protesting in South Africa - Shell's Hell

According to the Shell Guilty campaign other protests took place around the globe including:

In Nigeria, a rally, a candlelit vigil at the graveside of Ken Saro-Wiwa, and a mock trial were held at Bane, in Saro-Wiwa’s community. The events ran into controversy after Rivers State Police arrested a number of women activists in an attempt to prevent them from attending demonstrations. Protestors demanded their release, and eventually forced the police to release the detainees and respect their right to protest.

A noon rally took place in New York at Foley Square in Manhattan, near the federal courthouse where the trial had been scheduled to open today. A hundred supporters came out ahead of the trial, unfurling a banner that read, ‘JUSTICE FOR THE OGONI’. Inspiring speakers stressed that Shell cannot escape justice for their role in human rights abuses in the 1990s, and put pressure on Shell to end the ongoing environmental and social devastation in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region. A group of Ogoni activists closed the event by singing the Ogoni solidarity anthem.  Go to ShellGuilty.com for more information.

The trial is expected to commence no earlier than June 2nd.