NIGERIAN MILITARY ATTACKS ALLEGED BUNKERERS / EAC

C O N F I D E N T I A L LAGOS 000233 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: NIGERIAN MILITARY ATTACKS ALLEGED BUNKERERS / EAC MEETS Classified By: Consul General Brian L. Browne for Reasons 1.4 (b) and ( d). ¶1. (U) On February 15, a Nigerian military helicopter overflew the Nkerekoko area near Warri, Delta State, reportedly firing on 8 barges the GON alleges were being used for illegal oil bunkering activity. Giving a different version of the incident, Nkerekoko community leaders told the press 8 to 20 innocent civilians were killed and several houses destroyed but military sources have not confirmed casualties. The action comes on the heels of a visit by British Foreign Minister Jack Straw, who toured the Delta's oil producing swamps and creeks in a Shell helicopter. According to media reports, Straw had advised the GON to boost security in the Delta. Showing how challenging the public affairs terrain in the Delta can be, the media are attempting to draw a connection between Straw's statement and the military activity. ¶2. (C) The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) immediately released a statement to the press, promising retaliation. MEND portrayed the attack as retaliation against the Gbaramatu Ijaw community near Warri, Delta State, and they claimed the military helicopter involved in the incident was launched from Shell's Warri airstrip. MEND threatened to attack crafts landing or taking off from Shell's airstrip if "the use of this privately owned civilian airstrip for military operations is not discontinued." (Note. A confidental military source claimed the helicopter left from the airport in Benin City, Edo State. Further confusing matters, we have been told that Foreign Secretary Straw had used the Shell facility earlier in the day and the militants might well have conflated Straw's take-off with that of the military helicopter. End Note.) This latest MEND statement follows one released on Tuesday, February 14, in which MEND promised attacks within 96 hours if political concessions from the GON were not forthcoming. They said they had disregarded their prior ultimatums as a "testimonial of our sincerity to guarantee minimum casualties." -------------- -------------- Consulate EAC Meeting Establishes Initial Strategy -------------- -------------- ¶3. (C) The Consulate held an EAC meeting this morning. CG, RAO, RSO, MSG, DAO, CONS, and FBI attended to discuss the recent GON military action. This incident strikes at the center of the murky intersection where meet mercenary oil bunkering, politically motivated militant activity, and the GON's desire to control both the other two. On one hand, the Government is portraying the helicopter attack as a legitimate intercession against bunkerers. However, the strike was uncomfortably close to a MEND (or Federal Niger Delta Ijaw Communities United, FNDIC) stronghold. In the tumult that is the Delta, the attempt to draw such a fine distinction between bunkerers and ethnic militia will be lost; for a youth in the creeks can at times be both simultaneously, then, at times, be one to the exclusion of the other. In other words, MEND will likely take the action as, at least, an indirect attack that constitutes a direct challenge to it. ¶4. (SBU) EAC agreed to suspend all official travel to Warri for the time being. A parallel warden message will be issued. BROWNE