Amnesty International has launched a protest week, dubbed "Operation Clean Up" against oil giant Shell.

The rights group is sending demonstrators dressed in white chemical suits and brandishing brooms to "clean up" petrol stations across the Netherlands, the UK, Canada, Italy, Sweden and Belgium. "We hope to inspire Shell to do the same in Nigeria", says Marleen van Ruijven, Amnesty's senior policy adviser in Amsterdam.

Amnesty International says the situation in the Niger Delta is a human rights, social and environmental tragedy and that its communities are abused by the oil companies. Shell is the main oil company operating on land in the Niger Delta. The majority of people there depend on the natural environment for their food and livelihood. But, the group says, weekly leaks leave fishermen in the region unable to work and construction of new oil pipes is done with little regard for the welfare of people or their surroundings. The inhabitants have to drink, cook and wash in polluted water, the rights group claims.

Chinese state-owned oil company China National Offshore Oil Corporation is currently conducting talks with Nigeria to buy large stakes - possibly up to a sixth of all reserves - in Nigeria's oil blocks. The value of the potential deal was not disclosed, but some details suggest a figure of around 30 billion dollars, according to today's Financial Times.