OIL WORKER HOSTAGE UPDATE SITREP #22 - EMERGING

C O N F I D E N T I A L LAGOS 000130

SIPDIS

STATE PASS DOE FOR DAS JBRODMAN AND CGAY
TREASURY FOR ASEVERENS AND SRENENDER
COMMERCE FOR KBURRESS
STATE PASS TRANSPORTATION FOR MARAD
STATE PASS USAID FOR GWEYNAND AND SLAWAETZ
STATE FOR DS/IP/AF, AF/EX, DS/IP/OPO, DS/ICI/PII, DS/DSS/ITA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/29/2016
TAGS: EPET PGOV ASEC PTER KHLS PINR ETRD CASC NI
SUBJECT: OIL WORKER HOSTAGE UPDATE SITREP #22 - EMERGING
DETAILS OF DEAL AND HAND-OFF

REF: LAGOS 126 AND PREVIOUS

Classified By: Consul General Brian L. Browne for Reasons 1.4 (D & E)


1. (C) Accounts about how the hostage release was effected
this morning are beginning to emerge. Little can be
confirmed at this point. Two NGO sources in the Delta claim
that the release came about only after Niger Delta People's
Volunteer Force (NDPVF) leader Dokubo Asari, currently
incarcerated in Abuja awaiting trial for treason, somehow
passed a message to the kidnappers that the hostages should
be released. While our sources were adamant about the
veracity of their claim they also had no hard evidence
corroborating it. Bayelsa Secretary of the State Government
(SSG) Dr. Igali, who previously was willing to disclose some
aspects of the negotiation with us, was significantly more
reticent today. Refusing to divulge any information, he
stated that the agreement reached with the kidnappers was to
be held in the "strictest confidentiality." Some sources
suggest a monetary payment by Bayelsa Government was also
part of the deal, but other sources deny this.


2. (C) A Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People
(MOSOP) official told us that MOSOP leader Ledum Mitee was
called in from Port Harcourt to Warri yesterday by the GON
negotiators to assist with the negotiations. Other civil
society leaders in the Delta also might have been brought in.


3. (C) After spending most of the day in Abuja, the former
hostages will return to Lagos in the late afternoon.
Currently, we are working to place them on the British
Airways flight to London this evening.
BROWNE