Showing posts with label Nigeria. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nigeria. Show all posts

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Oil War - Nigeria

At the Delta of Niger River in Nigeria, where a vast proportion of planet's oil is excavated, bomb attacks, abductions and murders form part of daily routine. Nigeria's lucrative oil reserves may have enriched its politicians but they've brought little but misery to ordinary people. Now, a rebel group is fighting for a share of the profits. Nigerians no longer expect help from their own government. It's militia leaders like Asari who are winning their trust.The documentary portrays the image of "development", the way giant multinational petroleum companies would define it. Petroleum leaks in the River destroy flora and fauna, poison the food chain and consequently wipe out the 27 million indigenous people of the area - the Ijaws, the Ogoni and the Itsekiris. The inhabitants dare to ask the self-evident, they demand an end to it. As a response they are massively and brutally attacked by special forces of the army and the police, which are armed by the oil companies. The camera meets at the river militia of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta-MEND- and presents to the world for the first time shattering images of their speed boat patrols and of their heavy weaponry.

The Delta of Niger is a lost paradise. As the documentary reveals, it is a place where despite the natural beauty, contemporary "globalized" hell prevails.
DAILY NEWS ON BOOZE