SHANTY TOWN DEMOLISHED IN PORT HARCOURT; THOUSANDS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 LAGOS 000476 SIPDIS STATE FOR AF/W STATE FOR DS/IP/AF STATE FOR INR/AA E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/29/2015 TAGS: NI PGOV PHUM PREL SUBJECT: SHANTY TOWN DEMOLISHED IN PORT HARCOURT; THOUSANDS DISPLACED REF: MARCH 8 LITKE-EPSTEIN EMAIL Classified By: Consul General Brian L. Browne for Reasons 1.4 (D & E) ¶1. (C) Summary: In early March, the Rivers State government demolished the bulk of the "Agip waterside" shanty-town in Port Harcourt. Hundreds of dwellings have been leveled and thousands of people displaced. Former residents say the government neither paid compensation nor offered alternative housing. State House Assembly Speaker Rotimi Amaechi defended the actions as necessary to expand an adjacent road, but there is no on-going road work and many of the homes demolished were a substantial distance away from the road. Amaechi said alternative housing was inappropriate because the residents were all squatters, a claim local NGOs dispute. End summary. -------------- -------------- Rivers State Demolishes Shanty Town and Displaces Thousands -------------- -------------- ¶2. (SBU) On March 8, representatives from Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) reported that Rivers State had demolished most of the "Agip waterside" shantytown (ref). MOSOP estimated at least 5,000 people were evicted in the process. The government told MOSOP the demolition was to further urban renewal. Photos of the demolished area are posted at www.stakeholderdemocracy.org/main/content/vie w/13/. -------------- Mountains of Rubble, No Sign of A New Road -------------- ¶3. (SBU) Pol chief visited the area and confirmed hundreds of dwellings have been completely leveled and thousands left homeless. The area looks as if it has suffered a natural disaster, with children and women sifting through mountains of rubble, trying to salvage what is left of their belongings. Numerous individuals told pol-chief that the government initially marked a small section of homes for demolition. Government officials reportedly said these specific homes were to be destroyed in order to expand the road. However, the demolitions turned out to be much more extensive, and homes 50-100 yards from the road were affected. ¶4. (SBU) The displaced claim the government only gave notice to residents whose homes they marked previously (next to the roadside). They further maintain the government neither paid compensation, nor offered alternative housing arrangements to the homeless. Adding insult to injury, the displaced bitterly note that there is no road construction underway. -------------- -------------- Government Feels No Obligation To Rehouse Displaced -------------- -------------- ¶5. (C) Rivers State House Assembly Speaker (and Governor Odili prot Rotimi Amaechi told us the occupants were all illegal squatters. (Note: MOSOP claims many residents had valid occupancy certificates and that many had lived in the area for over a decade. End Note.) Amaechi maintained the demolitions were part of a road expansion project. He added the state was concerned about "criminals" who find shanty-towns a convenient haven from which to operate. ¶6. (C) Asked what was the state's plan for alternative housing, the speaker replied bluntly, "There is no plan. Those people were living there illegally." Pressed as to whether he thought inhabitants would likely return to their villages in the absence of alternative accommodations, the speaker replied blithely, "I have no idea." -------------- -------------- Residents Suspect Agip; Civil Society Feels Helpless -------------- -------------- ¶7. (SBU) MOSOP told us it had written letters to Rivers State Governor Peter Odili and to Agip oil company on behalf of the residents. The shanty-town lies adjacent to Agip's Port Harcourt headquarters. Many residents believe the dwellings were demolished in order to facilitate unconfirmed rumors of Agip expansion. Neither Agip nor the governor's offices have replied, according to MOSOP officials. (Note: MOSOP is involved in this issue because according to it, the vast majority of the shanty dwellers are Ogoni. End Note.) ¶8. (C) MOSOP officials explained that given the "legacy of violence" against the Ogoni people, there was no resistance to these mass demolitions. When pol-chief asked one woman milling about whether the inhabitants tried to prevent the demolitions or whether they had tried to present their case to the governor's office directly, she responded that the "Caterpillars came with Mopol (mobile policemen)." ¶9. (C) On issues such as this, civil society leaders complained aggrieved people have no redress to their governmental representatives since these individuals owe the public no fealty. Government representatives were all "selected" by power-brokers and therefore the threat to withhold your vote is hollow, they averred. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶10. (C) These demolitions did not register a blip in the Nigerian national media and clearly they do not discomfit state officials. It speaks volumes that the state government can in a single week displace thousands, without feeling compelled to take any ameliorating actions. However, these types of demolition are not unheard of in Nigeria's major cities whose shanty-towns harbor the poorest of the poor. This is just another example of a state government's unnecessarily harsh treatment of its most hapless citizens. BROWNE