Free Censored 2012 by Mickey Huff Page B

everything we have ever had. I saw war with my naked eyes. I saw my mum’s dead body. I saw my brothers lying helpless on the ground. Everyone was running without direction. It is a bitter experience. They are wicked people. They are heartless. I don’t have any family members as militants. We used to survive with fishing. It was through fishing business that my mum pays our school fees. Why will the [federal government] send military men to kill us, to destroy our community? We don’t have anywhere else to go now. No home, no place to go. My OND [school] certificate, my only hope for a better tomorrow has been destroyed.”
    The JTF stated that they had commenced the ghastly named “Operation Restore Hope” to “root out militants,” with the main target being the infamous rebel political leader, Tompolo. Sadly, the devastation in Oporoza turned out to be only the opening salvo in a relentless two-month military campaign by the JTF. On May 18, the Kurutie community was aerially bombed and almost completely destroyed. On May 19, Okerenkoko was bombarded and burnt. On May 20, Oporoza was attacked again, this time with aerial bombing that destroyed the King’s palace. On May 23, Benikurukuru was the target of the JTF’s illegal aircraft attacks. Bombings, murders, and other depredations were also perpetrated in Kunukunuma, Kokodiagbene, Azama, Ubefan, and many other surrounding communities. Nigerians of all ages and health were chased into the bush and swampy waterways as the JTF became an occupying military force in their homes.
    By June 2009, the JTF had moved to neighboring Rivers State, where the destruction continued unabated (and unnoticed) by the world. By the end of June 2009, up to twenty thousand Niger Delta residents had been “internally displaced,”—an inadequate term for losing everything in a single day—forced to flee without their animals or their possessions, losing in that moment their homes and livelihoods. These residents of the Niger Delta were trapped in an unwinnable war between the militants, the JTF, and the international oil companies—who demand keeping the oil and gas flowing, no matter the cost. It was not until August 2009 that the people ofthe Gbaramatu Kingdom were able to safely return to their ruined homes.
    The lack of discrimination by the JTF between innocent civilians and armed militants and the JTF’s regular use of disproportionate force is a clear violation of human rights law. President Goodluck Jonathan, who comes from neighboring Baylesa State, took some internal and external actions against the JTF. Yet similar attacks by the JTF against Niger Delta civilian communities have continued in 2010 and 2011, with atrocities in Awakormo and elsewhere, leading Niger Delta civil society and traditional leaders to call for the complete disbandment of the JTF.
    For a complete account of the JTF attacks in the Niger Delta and links to Delta State eyewitness statements and videos, please visit http://justiceinnigerianow.org/jinn/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/GB-update-final.pdf
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Censored 2011 #9

Human Rights Abuses Continue in Palestine
    Update by Salma Habib
    The Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa (HSRC) has released a study indicating that Israel is practicing both colonialism and apartheid in the occupied Palestinian territories. The HSRC commissioned an international team of scholars and practitioners of international public law from South Africa, the United Kingdom, Israel, and the West Bank to conduct the study.
    Original Sources: Virginia Tilley, Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa, “Occupation, Colonialism, Apartheid,” HSRC website, May 2009, http://www.hsrc.ac.za/Media_Release-378.phtml ; Jonathan Cook, “Israel Brings Gaza Entry Restrictions to West Bank,”
Electronic Intifada
, August 18, 2009, http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10718.shtml ; “Israel Rations Palestinians to Trickle of Water,” Amnesty International, October 27,