标签： Africa

For decades, the oil-rich wetlands of Nigeria’s Niger Delta have borne the brutal cost of international fossil fuel extraction, leaving local communities grappling with poisoned ecosystems and collapsed livelihoods. Now, newly uncovered internal company documents obtained by the BBC have laid bare that energy giant Shell, a major operator in the region for more than 60 years, was fully aware of the catastrophic risks posed by its infrastructure decades ago — and chose to continue pumping oil anyway, even against the warnings of its own senior executives. At the center of the ongoing controversy is the 96.5-kilometer Nembe Creek Trunk Line, once one of Shell’s largest and most profitable crude transportation routes in Nigeria. Capable of moving 150,000 barrels of oil per day from inland fields to coastal export facilities, the pipeline passes directly through the waterways of Bille, a 45-island riverine community that has borne the brunt of repeated spills over more than a decade.

Decades of unchecked extraction and spillage have left the Niger Delta’s mangroves, creeks, and riverbeds caked in crude oil, contaminating sediment and turning once-thriving fishing and harvesting grounds into toxic wastelands. The documents, released as part of ongoing UK legal proceedings brought by Bille and surrounding Niger Delta communities, expose a decades-long pattern of corporate negligence that dates back to at least 2008. That year, a senior Shell technical executive, Markus Droll, then the company’s technical vice president, raised urgent alarm about the decision to keep the pipeline running when it was already plagued by rampant illegal oil theft, known locally as bunkering, and systemic infrastructure failure. In an internal October 2008 email, Droll explicitly questioned the company’s choice to operate the pipeline outside of its own official safety and technical standards, warning that a major attack or failure could force a total shutdown and expose the firm to massive liability. “I don’t agree that funding can be an issue. Sorry if I sound like a broken record on this — but the approach makes me, as your Technical VP, pretty uncomfortable,” Droll wrote. His warning was met not with action, but with criticism from Ann Pickard, then Shell’s regional executive vice president, who reprimanded him for failing to label the discussion legally privileged, which would have hidden the correspondence from future court disclosure. “You have just exposed us significantly in your official disagreement as technical manager without legal privilege,” Pickard wrote, while acknowledging that continuing operations was “not an easy decision” but claiming it represented the “lower risk to both people and environment.”

That pattern of ignoring internal red flags continued for years. A 2012 confidential document, released amid the peak of spills alleged by the Bille community, confirms that Shell leadership knew large sections of the pipeline were rated “red” — the company’s highest risk classification — because of dozens of illegal taps drilled by oil theft gangs. Under Shell’s own internal rules, a red rating required either an immediate full shutdown or urgent corrective repairs. Instead, executives argued that shutting down the pipeline would only lead thieves to install new illegal taps in other locations, and granted permission to keep pumping crude.

Bille residents, who rely on the region’s waterways for food and income, have already seen their way of life destroyed by the pollution. When BBC reporters visited the community last week, local fishermen and harvesters described a total collapse of the ecosystem that once sustained them. Balafama Augustus Bruce, a 64-year-old fisherman and one of the claimants in the lawsuit against Shell, recalled that before the 2011-2013 spill period at the center of the case, the waters around Bille teemed with sardines, catfish, tilapia, and oysters. Today, most native species are gone, and any that are caught are often deformed. “Before 2011, here was a beautiful area. People play here and go into the river,” Bruce told the BBC. “We used to fish around here. But because of the damage the spills have caused, nobody is fishing here again. Because of that I’ve become poor. I eat from hand to mouth.” For Taminoibitein Philip, a 49-year-old periwinkle harvester, the pollution has wiped out the local harvest of the sea snails, a staple regional delicacy. Even when snails can be found, they no longer grow to full adult size. “And the odour is killing us… some places have crude, some places have gas. We don’t benefit. We are suffering,” Philip said. Like other residents, she argues that Shell, which sold its remaining onshore Nigerian assets including the pipeline to Renaissance Africa Energy last year, still owes the community redress after decades of profiting from the region’s resources. “Let them come and flush the river for us,” she said.

The legal case against Shell, being brought by Leigh Day law firm on behalf of the communities, seeks a total of $1 billion in resolution: $250 million in direct compensation for lost livelihoods and health harms, and $750 million to fund a full cleanup of the contaminated environment. Since Shell began commercial oil extraction in Nigeria in 1958, the United Nations estimates that at least 13 million barrels of crude have been spilled across the Niger Delta in more than 7,000 separate incidents — a legacy of pollution that has existed for generations. The region has a long history of activism to hold oil companies accountable, most famously led by Nigerian writer and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, who was executed by Nigeria’s military government in 1995 after leading protests against oil pollution in Ogoniland.

The documents also reveal internal concerns about the potential for public and legal scrutiny of Shell’s practices as early as 2013. When executives proposed an internal audit of pipeline integrity and oil theft management between 2009 and 2012, then-Nigerian subsidiary onshore assets general manager Vincent Holtam warned the audit could expose the company to massive liability. “I have no doubt that this will come out as UNACCEPTABLE, in which case we may be very exposed in disputing any oil loss claims from the Government or compensation claims from the community,” Holtam wrote in an email. The documents do not confirm whether the audit was ever completed. Just one month later, Shell launched a top-secret initiative codenamed Project Madrid to assess the full scale of spill damage around the pipeline. A 36-page internal presentation for the project estimated that 100 illegal refineries were operating along the route, contaminating 9,000 hectares of water and an equal area of land, and that the company was already responding to 18 active spills from 60 known illegal bunkering points. Shell opted to continue operations after a series of temporary shutdowns for repairs, though the documents do not detail which long-term strategy executives ultimately approved.

In its response to the BBC’s reporting, Shell has pushed back against the claims, arguing that the documents released lack critical context about the challenging operating environment in the Niger Delta at the time. The company blames nearly all of the pollution on large-scale criminal oil theft, sabotage, and illegal refining, noting that its Nigerian subsidiary invested heavily in spill prevention and response over the years, and that pervasive systemic criminality made full prevention impossible. A company spokesperson added that Shell “strongly believes in the merits of our case and will vigorously defend the claims at trial next year.” Shell also confirmed that it had contacted the three former executives named in the documents, and none chose to issue a direct public response. The law firm representing the communities countered that Shell’s London headquarters made the key decisions that led to the environmental destruction, and that communities are determined to hold the company accountable for damage that continues to blight their lives today. Local Bille leaders acknowledge that oil theft was widespread in the region, but argue that Shell still bears legal and moral responsibility for failing to maintain its infrastructure and address the pollution it enabled. “They are not concerned about what happens to you. Their concern is to continue to make profit,” said Chief Boma Renner Dappa, spokesperson for the Bille local leaders’ council. “All that has happened in this environment is as a result of negligence.” The BBC requested comment from the Nigerian government on Shell’s claims that local authorities could not address the organized criminal activity fueling oil theft, but has not yet received a response.

As Sudan’s brutal civil war stretches into its fourth year, survivors are breaking a long-standing cultural taboo to expose a horrific pattern of widespread sexual violence, abduction, and extortion being carried out by the country’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the paramilitary group blamed for the majority of these abuses. In on-the-record interviews with the Associated Press, three survivors shared graphic, harrowing accounts of their captivity, shining a new light on a crisis the United Nations has labeled one of the most defining characteristics of Sudan’s ongoing conflict.

The first survivor, a 38-year-old woman whose identity is being protected in line with standard reporting practice for sexual assault victims, fled her besieged home in el-Fasher, Darfur, in September 2024, just weeks before RSF forces captured the city in an assault the UN has confirmed bears the hallmarks of genocide. Her husband, a soldier, had already been killed in fighting, and her brother had been shot and critically wounded, requiring urgent medical care that could not be accessed in the embattled city. As the pair traveled to seek safety, RSF fighters ambushed their convoy.

Fighters separated women and children from male passengers, searching all men for shoulder marks that would indicate past military service. Everyone was forced to strip completely. When fighters moved to execute her wounded brother, the woman volunteered herself to take his place. She was bound, beaten, and thrown into the back of a truck alongside four other abducted women and teenage girls, who were then driven to an isolated, abandoned desert village.

For two days, the 38-year-old and the other captives were held naked, unfed, and bound in an open shelter, unable to move and forced to lie in their own waste. Multiple RSF fighters repeatedly raped the women, entering the shelter to select victims, assault them, and rebind them afterwards. “I was thinking about ending my life,” the survivor recalled, wiping away tears during the interview.

On the second day of captivity, her captors demanded a $1,500 ransom for her release. They gave her a mobile phone, ordering her to drain her bank account and contact relatives for additional funds. She transferred all she had, roughly $200, before being forced to reach out to her cousin on Facebook. After the cousin sent a second payment, fighters tortured the woman in front of him over a call, pressing a heated metal object into her fingernails to force more money. By the time she was released, her family had paid a total of roughly $700. Today, she remains haunted by the fates of the other women who could not raise their ransoms. Rights activists confirm most captives who cannot pay simply disappear in captivity.

Her account is not an isolated case. A second survivor, 30, was abducted from a Khartoum market in 2024 after the RSF seized control of the capital. She was held in a remote compound for two weeks, forced to cook, clean, tend cattle and bathe fighters, and raped every single night. Even after her relative in the United States paid a $1,250 ransom, her captors initially refused to release her. Only the unexpected compassion of one fighter, who smuggled her out under cover of night, secured her freedom. “They never missed a day … I have nightmares,” she told the AP.

The third survivor, abducted near Dilling in South Kordofan, was held for nine days, beaten and raped, before her family paid for her release in September 2024.

International bodies and conflict analysts have confirmed these individual stories reflect a growing national crisis. The United Nations has documented that sexual assault rates have skyrocketed since the war between the RSF and Sudan’s regular military began in 2023, and that most documented abuses are linked to the RSF, with hotspots including Khartoum, Darfur, Gezira state, and increasingly, expanding conflict zones in South Kordofan. While all warring parties have been accused of sexual violence by the UN and human rights groups, the RSF has been linked to the vast majority of incidents. The RSF has not responded to repeated requests for comment on allegations of abduction, sexual assault, and ransom demands.

The UN has also confirmed that the abduction of women for sexual slavery, followed by ransom demands for their release, has become systemic. Ransoms can reach as high as $10,000 per captive. Data from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, a U.S.-based nonprofit conflict monitoring organization, shows reported incidents of ransom-linked abductions, including those involving sexual violence, have jumped nearly 195% since the war began through May 2025, with the RSF identified as the perpetrator in most cases. Sudanese conflict analyst Mohamed Younis predicts these crimes will only become more common as the RSF fragments following a series of high-level defections from the paramilitary group’s leadership.

For survivors and their families, the harm extends far beyond the physical and psychological trauma of assault. Local aid workers say raising ransom money pushes already vulnerable families into crushing poverty, forcing them to sell gold reserves, vehicles, and even homes to secure the release of their loved ones. Local support organizations like Bait Al Mohaba, which works with survivors of sexual and gender-based violence, report they lack the funding to provide critical support, including life-saving medical treatment for survivors.

Aid funding gaps have been exacerbated by policy changes from the U.S. government: the previous Trump administration cut all $370 million in funding to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), which provided critical support for survivors of gender-based violence in more than 25 countries including Sudan. The cut was based on unsubstantiated claims of coercive abortion ties in China that UNFPA has repeatedly rejected. While Sudan still receives more than $220 million in U.S. humanitarian funding for other needs this year, no replacement funding has filled the gap left by the UNFPA cut.

Today, the 38-year-old survivor lives in a Khartoum displaced persons camp, reunited with her wounded brother, but still struggling to rebuild her life. She sustained internal bleeding and fluid buildup from her assault, but cannot afford the life-saving surgery she needs. She carries heavy debts to the relatives who helped pay her ransom, some of whom have since been killed in the war; she says she vows to repay the money to their children, or donate it to charity in their names, just to find peace. She has turned to supporting other survivors in the camp, mentoring women and girls who have endured similar trauma, and holds onto the hope that the graphic photos she took of her battered body after her release will one day serve as evidence to hold her attackers accountable. “I thought about seeking justice one day,” she said.

Deadly violence has erupted in Kenya amid widespread public opposition to a planned United States Ebola quarantine facility, leaving at least two people dead in clashes between protesters and security forces. The unrest, which has gripped affected communities across the country, unfolded after months of growing public anxiety over the proposed project, which critics say poses unquantified health risks and violates Kenyan national sovereignty over public health infrastructure.

Witnesses on the ground report that demonstrations escalated rapidly from peaceful public gatherings to violent confrontations, with protesters blocking major roads, vandalizing public property, and clashing with law enforcement officers deployed to disperse crowds. Security forces responded to the unrest with crowd control measures that ultimately turned deadly, resulting in the fatal shooting of two protest participants. Local medical sources confirmed the deaths shortly after the clashes, and a number of additional protesters were reportedly injured during the confrontations.

The proposed facility, which is framed by U.S. and Kenyan health officials as a collaborative public health initiative to strengthen regional preparedness for future Ebola outbreaks, has sparked intense public pushback since its announcement. Misinformation circulating on local social media platforms has fueled unfounded rumors that the facility would be used to conduct dangerous experimental research or intentionally spread the deadly virus, amplifying public anger and distrust in both national authorities and the U.S. government. Many local residents have also raised legitimate concerns about the site’s proximity to populated residential areas, warning that an accidental leak of the virus could trigger a catastrophic outbreak that would overwhelm local healthcare systems.

As of the latest updates, Kenyan government officials have not issued a formal public statement addressing the fatal clashes, nor have they announced any changes to the planned development of the Ebola quarantine facility. Public health experts warn that the unrest highlights the critical need for transparent communication between governments, international partners, and local communities when developing cross-border public health infrastructure, noting that misinformation and lack of community engagement can quickly derail even well-intentioned global health initiatives.

On Tuesday, South African police confirmed the deaths of two Mozambican citizens killed over the weekend in Mossel Bay, opening a formal homicide investigation that has deepened a public dispute with Maputo over rising xenophobic violence in the country. The two victims, aged 27 and 43, were killed on Saturday, just one day after a separate outbreak of unrest in the Western Cape province.

In an official statement, Mozambique’s government has alleged that five of its nationals were killed in targeted xenophobic attacks, with an additional 800 Mozambican citizens victimized during violent unrest that broke out on Friday in the KwaNonqaba settlement. Following the violence, 300 Mozambicans crossed the border back to their home country on Saturday, with another 500 expected to follow in the coming days. Tragically, two people died in a road accident during this mass evacuation. South African law enforcement has not confirmed any xenophobic motive for the two confirmed deaths, saying the investigation is still ongoing, and noted that they released the updated details to “set the record straight” amid conflicting public claims.

The violence comes amid a months-long surge in anti-foreigner sentiment across South Africa, driven by grassroots protests demanding stricter immigration enforcement. Demonstrators, led by advocacy group March and March, argue that undocumented migrants strain public services and contribute to rising crime rates. The group has issued an unofficial deadline for all undocumented immigrants to leave the country by 30 June, with protests ramping up ahead of local elections scheduled for later this year.

The Friday unrest in KwaNonqaba saw widespread arson that left more than 50 informal shacks destroyed. Police have arrested five people in connection with that arson attack. In a separate, unrelated incident, an 18-year-old South African man was stabbed to death during an apparent botched robbery early Sunday, with no arrests made in that case as of Tuesday.

Officially, South Africa is home to more than 3 million documented foreign nationals, making up roughly 5% of the country’s total population. Government figures do not account for the estimated millions more who reside in the country without formal documentation. Xenophobic violence has been a persistent systemic issue in South Africa for decades, with periodic deadly outbreaks targeting foreign communities.

In response to the rising unrest, multiple neighboring and African nations have issued travel warnings advising their citizens in South Africa to exercise heightened caution. Countries including Kenya, Malawi, Lesotho, and Zimbabwe have all issued public alerts. Earlier this year, Ghana completed an evacuation of hundreds of its citizens from South Africa citing growing safety risks. While South Africa’s national government has formally condemned criminal acts directed at foreign nationals, police have stopped short of confirming that recent violence constitutes organized xenophobic attacks.