The Shell Eguatu oil terminal, Warri-Sud, Nigeria.

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PIUS UTOMI EKPEI / AFP

A group of peasants against an oil giant.

This Thursday in the Netherlands, four Nigerians, through their lawyers, accused the Anglo-Dutch Royal Dutch Shell of having caused considerable pollution.

The plaintiffs, supported by the Dutch environmental group Milieudefensie, sued Shell in 2008, demanding that the company pay for the clean-up work, after oil spills that affected three villages in southeastern Nigeria, and pay them compensations.

Lands that "no longer exist"

The oil giant had fought for years, believing that the dispute should not be judged by the courts of the Netherlands.

But in 2015, a court ruled that the procedure could continue its course.

The plaintiffs and their relatives attended the hearing this Thursday by video conference from Nigeria.

"This is a long-term affair, the resolution of which still seems far away," said their lawyer, Channa Samkalden, who presented satellite images and videos of the three oil spills, which occurred in the 2000s, in the villages. by Goi, Oruma and Ikot Ada Udo.

"The land that was our source of income no longer exists," one of the plaintiffs, Chief Fidelis Oguru, told reporters shortly before the hearing.

Shell has always attributed the pollution to sabotage and claims to have cleaned up the premises.

"Nigerian law is clear: operators are not subject to the obligation to pay compensation in the event of pollution linked to sabotage," said Igo Weli, director of the Nigerian subsidiary of Shell, in a statement.

Nigeria is the largest producer of crude in Africa, and the ninth in the world.

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