¹ Ekeh, Peter, ‘Colonialism and the Two Publics in Africa’, in Comparative Studies in Society and History (Cambridge), 17, 1, 01 1975, pp. 91–112.Google Scholar

² Young, Crawford, ‘The Temple of Ethnicity’, in World Politics (Princeton), 35, 4, 07 1983, p. 659.Google Scholar Also see the same author's earlier full-length study, The Politics of Ethnic Pluralism (Madison, 1976),Google Scholar and his later ‘The Dialectics of Cultural Pluralism: concept and reality’, in Young, (ed.), The Rising Tide: the nation-state at bay? (Madison, 1993), pp. 3–35.Google Scholar

³ Three examples should suffice. (1) In the mid-1950s, as economic development boomed in Côte d'Ivoire, its politicians increasingly bridled about the amount spent in Senegal and in other parts of Afrique occidentale française (AOF). As convincingly demonstrated by Berg, Elliot, ‘The Economic Basis of Political Choice in French West Africa’, in American Political Science Review (Washington, DC), 54, 1960, pp. 391–405,Google Scholar and Morgenthau, Ruth Schachter, Political Parties in French-Speaking West Africa (Oxford, 1964),Google Scholar the ‘balkanisation’ of the Federation reflected the financial interests of the better-off. (2) The attempt by Katanga to secede from the former Belgian Congo similarly reflected a rich region's desire to keep its revenue close at home: see Hoskyns, Catherine, The Congo Since Independence, January 1960–December 1961 (London, 1965),Google Scholar and Gérard-Libois, Jules, Katanga Secession (Madison, 1966).Google Scholar (3) The unsuccessful struggle to create the Republic of Biafra was based in part on income from oil produced in the Niger River delta, a large part of which was included in the former Eastern Region of Nigeria: see Jorre, John de St., The Brothers' War: Biafra and Nigeria (Boston, 1972). There can be little doubt that the disastrous consequences of Katanga's attempted secession weighed heavily on African leaders when they established the Organisation of African Unity in 1963 and took such a strong stand in favour in inherited boundaries.Google Scholar

⁴ Brann, Conrad Max Benedict, ‘Democratisation of Language Use in Public Domains in Nigeria’, in The Journal of Modern African Studies (Cambridge), 31, 4, 12 1993, p. 641.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁵ According to Awolowo, Obafemi, Path to Nigerian Freedom (London, 1947, republished 1966), p. 47: ‘our ultimate goal’ must be a ‘true federal constitution’. His building blocks would be ethnic groups, each of which ‘however small, is entitled to the same treatment as any other group, however large…Each group must be autonomous in regard to its internal affairs. Each must have its own Regional House of Assembly…even as many as thirty to forty…would not be too many in the future United States of Nigeria’.Google Scholar

⁶ Northerners have headed the Federal Government of Nigeria for no less than 29 of the first 33 years of independence, the only exceptions being General J. T. Aguyi-Ironsi for six months in 1966 and General Olusegun Obasanjo during 1976–1979.Google Scholar

⁷ Saro-Wiwa, Ken, ‘The Ogoni Nation Today and Tomorrow’, Port Harcourt, 1968, reissued 1993.Google Scholar

⁸ As of late 1993, two of the seven Commissioners in the Rivers State cabinet were Ogoni, as were two of the State's three Federal Commissioners.Google Scholar

⁹ Osaghae, Eghosa E., ‘The Ogoni Uprising: oil politics, minority agitation and the future of the Nigerian state’, in African Affairs (London), 94, 376, 07 1995, pp. 328 and 331–2.Google Scholar

¹⁰ Saro-Wiwa, Ken, Genocide in Nigeria: the Ogoni tragedy (Port Harcourt, 1992), p. 11.Google Scholar

¹¹ Population statistics are political dynamite in Nigeria. The number of inhabitants of an area essentially determines how much revenue will be allocated from federal sources; their ethnic identity provides a significant guide to their political leanings. The Nigerian authorities have attempted to depoliticise the census, and in particular to end inflated claims of population size. No questions are asked about a person's ethnicity as a matter of national policy. Origin by state has been used in filling government positions, in order to reflect the ‘federal character’ of the country. Such an approach does not solve grievances felt by those within individual states who see quotas filled by dominant minorities. In addition, aggrieved groups such as the Ogoni have claimed an inflated number of indigenes and hence inadequate representation. I have no doubt that ethnic skewing exists in Nigeria and that many groups are under-represented on a percentage basis, if certain figures are to be belived. Thus, it should not be surprising that Ogoni point to their limited number in senior postitions, while critics suggest they are over-represented.

¹² Saro-Wiwa, Ken, On a Darkling Plain: an account of the Nigerian civil war (London, 1989), p. 199. The author had been appointed in 1967 as Administrator of the war-ravaged oil port of Bonny, thereafter holding the portfolios of Education and Information in the Government of Rivers State from 1968 to 1973.Google Scholar

¹³ To assume that ethnicity is primarily the province of the less educated in Africa is mistaken. ‘Detribalisation’ does not automatically result from greater education, job mobility, or other measures of ‘modernisation’. Leadership of ethnically-based movements has become a major avenue for aspirant leaders.

¹⁴ In addition, the Ogoni ‘bill of rights’ called for political autonomy within Nigeria, adequate and direct representation within national institutions (hence basing them on ethnicity rather than territory and/or majorities in diverse areas), development of Ogoni language and culture, and the right to protect the environment from further degradation.

¹⁵ Saro-Wiwa, Ken, Nigeria, the Brink of Disaster (London, 1991),Google ScholarSimilia: essays on anomic Nigeria (London, 1991),Google Scholar and the already cited Genocide in Nigeria (1992).Google Scholar

¹⁶ Saro-Wiwa, Ken, ‘Reaching for the Roots’, in West Africa (London), 16–22 12 1991, p. 2102.Google Scholar

¹⁷ Ogoni Review (Port Harcourt), 1, 5, 09 1993, p. 1.Google Scholar

¹⁸ Mosop, ‘Briefing Note on Ogoniland and the Ogoni People of Nigeria’, Port Harcourt, ca. October 1993.

¹⁹ Letter from Nickson, E. W., Shell Public Relations Officer, to The Ecologist (Sturminster Newton, Dorset), 15 10 1993.Google Scholar

²⁰ Mosop, ‘Briefing Note’, p. 1.

²¹ ttached ‘Review of Events’ to letter from J. K. Tillery, Divisional Manger, Willbros West Africa, Inc., to J. R. Udofia, General Manager of Shell, Port Harcourt, dated 3 May 1993.

²² Human Rights Watch/Africa, ‘First-Ever Testimony by Nigerian Soldiers on the Military Campaigns in Ogoniland’, Washington, DC, 27 03 1995.

²³ ‘Joint Resolution by the Ogoni and Andoni Communities, Rivers State Government, the Rivers State Peace Conference Committee and the National Council on Inter-Governmental Relations (NCIR) Abuja in the Matter of the Ogoni/Andoni Disturbances’, 6 October 1993.

²⁴ Letter of 19 October 1993 from Professor Claude Ake to Chief Rufus Ada George, Executive Governor of Rivers State. This document, and several of those cited in footnotes above, are reproduced in ‘Ogoni Background Material November 1993’ by the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization, The Hague.

²⁵ For example, Amnesty International, Index AFR 44/07/93, London, 20 July 1993.

²⁶ I attended the Cerd hearing in Geneva on 10 August 1993 when several references were made to the Ogoni, obviously on the basis of Mosop and the other NGO material. The Nigerian representative played down the gravity of the situation, as expected, and a senior African member of the committee, concerned by the amount of attention given to a matter that did not figure in the official report submitted by Nigeria, responded with a lengthy personal statement, criticising ‘political’ intrusions into Cerd's work. This stands as a sharp reminder that members of UN human rights treaty bodies do not unreservedly, welcome, support, or utilise NGO inputs.

²⁷ ‘The Ogoni Crisis: a case-study of military repression in Southeastern Nigeria’, Human Rights Watch/Africa, New York, 07 1995.

²⁸ The high-pitched shriek of flaring natural gas cuts through their Niger delta air at many points. Had this valuable resource been tied better into national development (as in generating electricity), Nigeria's economic doldrums might not be so deep.

²⁹ Even supposedly homogeneous African societies are characterised by potentially serious divisions. The exacerbation of clan identification and conflict in Somalia – long touted by some African specialists as a model pastoral democracy, relatively free from destructive internal rivalry based on group identification — stands as a case in point.

³⁰ However, the sense of ethnic unity may also be a product of enclosure within a colonial state. As argued over three decades ago by Hodgkin, Thomas, Nigerian Perspectives: an historical anthology (London, 1960), pp. 2–3, the concept of being ‘Yoruba’ may be no older than that of being ‘Nigerian’.Google Scholar

³¹ Senghor, Léopold Sédar, Nation et voie africaine du socialisme (Paris, 1961)Google Scholar and Nkrumah, Kwame, Africa Must Unite (London, 1963).Google Scholar

³² For Senghor's policies, see Dugue, Gil, Vers les États-Unis d' Afrique (Dakar, 1960)Google Scholar and Foltz, William J., From West Africa to the Mali Federation (New Haven, 1965).Google Scholar For Nkrumah's policies, see Welch, Claude E. Jr, Dream of Unity: pan-Africanism and political unification in West Africa (Ithaca, 1966), especially pp. 292–335,Google Scholar and Thompson, W. Scott, Ghana's Foreign Policy, 1957–1966: diplomacy, ideology, and the new state (Princeton, 1969).Google Scholar

³³ See Nyerere, Julius K., ‘A United States of Africa’, in The Journal of Modern African Studies, I, 1, 03 1963, pp. 1–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

³⁴ Eritrea's re-establishment was seen as a necessary exception: it had existed prior to 1950 as a political entity distinct from Ethiopia (despite their many cultural and economic links); its people had struggled for decades for independence following the territory's incorporation into Ethiopia; a referendum organised with substantial international involvement showed an overwhelming majority favouring independence; and the régime in Addis Ababa headed by Meles Zenawi conceded in advance that it would accept the outcome.Google Scholar

³⁵ There is an enormous literature on self-determination. See, for example, listed in date order: Umozurike, U. O., Self-Determination in International Law (Hamden, CT, 1972);Google ScholarBuchheit, Lee C., Secession: the legitimacy of self-determination (New Haven, CT, 1978);Google ScholarRonen, Dov, The Quest for self-Determination (New Haven, 1979);Google ScholarAlexander, Yonah and Friedlander, Robert A. (eds.), Self-Determination: national, regional and global dimensions (Boulder, CO, 1980);Google ScholarEspiell, Hector Gros, The Right to Self-Determination: implementation of United Nations resolutions (New York, 1980);Google ScholarCristescu, Aurelio, The Right to Self-Determination: historical and current developments on the basis of United Nations instruments (New York, 1981);Google ScholarPomerance, Michla, Self-Determination in Law and Practice: the new doctrine in the United Nations (The Hague, 1982);Google ScholarMakonnen, Yilma, International Law and the New States of Africa: a study of the international legal problems of state succession in the newly independent states of Eastern Africa (Paris, 1983);Google ScholarNeuberger, Benyamin, National Self-Determination: an interdisciplinary annotated bibliography (New York, 1987);Google ScholarWilson, Heather A., International Law and the Use of Force by National Liberation Movements (Oxford, 1988);Google ScholarHannum, Hurst, Autonomy, Sovereignty and Self-Determination: the accommodation of conflicting rights (Phildelphia, 1990);Google Scholar and Quaye, Christopher O., Liberation Struggles in International Law (Philadelphia, 1991).Google Scholar Also Anaya, S. James, ‘The Capacity of International Law to Advance Ethnic or Nationality Rights Claims’, in Iowa Law Review (Iowa City), 75, 1990, pp. 837–73,Google Scholar and McCorquodale, Robert, ‘Self-Determination Beyond the Colonial Context and Its Potential Impact on Africa’ in African Journal of International and Comparative Law (London), 4, 1992, pp. 592–608.Google Scholar

³⁶ UN General Assembly Resolution 1514 (XV), 14 December 1960. Significantly, paragraph 6 declared that ‘Any attempt aimed at the partial or total disruption of the national unity and the territorial integrity of a country is incompatible with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations.’Google Scholar

³⁷ Donnelly, Jack, Universal Human Rights in Theory and Practice (Ithaca, 1989), p. 148.Google Scholar

³⁸ An interesting essay in this regard is McDonald, Michael, ‘Should Communities Have Rights? Reflections on Liberal Individualism’, in An-Na'im, Abdullahi Ahmed (ed.), Human Rights in Cross-Cultural Perspectives: a quest for consensus (Philadelphia, 1992), pp. 133–61.Google Scholar