"Our weapon is our nakedness,"
--Helen Odeworitse


Nigerian women hold oil workers hostage


Saurabh Das/AP
Nigerian women occupying a ChevronTexaco oil export terminal at Escravos, in
southeast Nigeria, control the main dock of the facility.

ESCRAVOS, Nigeria (AP) - Unarmed village women holding 700 ChevronTexaco
workers inside a southeast Nigeria oil terminal let 200 of the men go Sunday
but threatened a traditional and powerful shaming gesture if the others try
to leave - removing their own clothes.

"Our weapon is our nakedness," said Helen Odeworitse, a representative for
the villagers in the extraordinary week-old protest for jobs, electricity
and development in Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta.

Most Nigerian tribes consider unwanted displays of nudity by wives, mothers
or grandmothers as an extremely damning protest measure that can inspire a
collective source of shame for those at whom the action is directed.

About 600 women from two nearby communities are holding ChevronTexaco's
giant Escravos terminal. They range in age from 30 to 90 - with the core
group being married women aged 40 or older.

The women want the oil giant to hire their sons and use some of the region's
oil riches to develop their remote and run-down villages - most of which
lack even electricity. The people in the Niger Delta are among the poorest
in Nigeria, despite living on the oil-rich land.

ChevronTexaco officials have refused to identify the trapped workers, but an
employee at the plant said Wednesday they included Americans, Britons and
Canadians as well as Nigerians.

Both sides took a break Sunday from their often heated negotiations.

Anino Olowu, 55, leader of the women's negotiating team, said it was not
clear when talks would resume. ChevronTexaco's top negotiator informed the
women he would consult higher management before resuming the meetings.

The oil company has emphasized that it wants to resolve the so-far peaceful
standoff by dialogue. About 100 police and soldiers armed with assault
rifles have been sent to the terminal to protect the facility. They are
under strict orders not to harm the women, though one beat up a woman on
Thursday.

The takeover began Monday when 150 women managed to sneak into the facility.
The women have occupied the terminal ever since, blocking the airstrip,
helipad and port that provide the only exit routes from the facility, which
is surrounded by rivers and swamps.

The protest has shut down a facility that accounts for the bulk of the
company's Nigeria production, with an estimated half-million barrels a day.

Oil site takeovers are common in Nigeria, the world's sixth-largest producer
of oil, and the fifth-largest supplier to the United States.

But this protest is a departure for Nigeria, where such disputes often are
settled with machetes and guns. In the oil-rich Niger Delta, armed young men
routinely resort to kidnapping and sabotage to pressure oil multinationals
into giving them jobs, protection money or compensation for alleged
environmental damage.

Hostages generally are released unharmed.

On Sunday the women released 200 of the workers - to show "good faith,"
Odeworitse said.

Four ferries bound for Warri, the nearest city two hours away by boat,
carried the freed workers off. The workers released Sunday were nearing the
end of their tour of duty, which can last weeks at a time.

ChevronTexaco "begged us to allow the boats to go so they can bring food
back, and allow those on staff who were due to go on time-off leave,"
Odeworitse said.

ChevronTexaco executives could not be immediately reached for comment
Sunday. The talks have been playing out in a village of rusty tin shacks
within 100 yards of the oil terminal.

The women are occupying the plant in shifts and constantly communicating
with those outside using walkie-talkies, Odeworitse said.

The women took bundles of food with them when they began the takeover and
ChevronTexaco has also supplied them some. The women are cooking their own
meals inside the terminal mess hall. The occupiers say everyone, including
themselves, so far has had enough food.

The struggle between international oil firms and local communities drew
international attention in the mid-1990s, when violent protests by the tiny
Ogoni tribe forced Shell to abandon its wells on their land.

The late dictator Gen. Sani Abacha responded in 1995 by hanging nine Ogoni
leaders, including writer Ken Saro Wiwa - triggering international outrage
and Nigeria's expulsion from the Commonwealth.