Sobering Eye-Witness Reports Detail Military Violence in the Delta
Posted by jinn on June 1st, 2009
Last Month, the Nigerian military began an offensive attack in the Niger Delta under the guise of rooting out militants associated with the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND). However, it’s clear that those who have suffered have been countless innocent villagers. Now the military has expanded their attacks to other states in the Delta. Late last week, Environmental Rights Action issued a report of eye-witness accounts from the violence.
Read the Full Report
“Most of the students like me who tried to escape during the deadly incident are dead. Some in the streets, forests …they were killed by the bombs. I lost my mother and six of my brothers in the incidence. Two of my three sisters are still trapped in the forest. The place is too dangerous for them to come out now. They can’t cross with boat and they can’t risk swimming. The JTF (Joint Task Force) 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. I saw my mum’s dead body. I saw my brothers lying helpless on the ground (here she started sobbing). Everyone was running without direction. It is a bitter experience. They are wicked people. They are heartless. I don’t have any family member as militants. We used to survive with fishing. It was through fishing business that my mum pays our school fees. Why will the FG [federal government] send military men to kill us, to destroy our community? We don’t have anywhere else to go now. No home, no place to go…”
-. – Miss Peres Popo, 21, ,21 from, from Okporoza .
The report details what Environmental Rights Action is calling for in response to the military violence:
ERA demands:
- The Federal Government should withdraw Joint Task Force (JTF) operatives from Gbaramatu Kingdom and the entire Niger Delta region.
- Federal Government should engage in genuine dialogue with the peoples of the Niger Delta as gun duels will not resolve the deep political issues
- Adequate provision of medical treatment and relief materials to all displaced persons
- Grant immediate access to NGO’s and other observers to Gbaramatu Kingdom
- Compensation for all affected persons in the attacks.
- Reconstruction of all bombed buildings and communities