Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06LAGOS70
2006-01-20 10:26:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Consulate Lagos
Cable title:  

OIL WORKER HOSTAGE UPDATE SITREP #9

Tags:  EPET PGOV ASEC PTER KHLS PINR ETRD CASC NI 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 LAGOS 000070 

SIPDIS

STATE PASS DOE FOR DAS JBRODMAN AND CGAY
TREASURY FOR ASEVERENS AND SRENENDER
COMMERCE FOR KBURRESS
STATE PASS TRANSPORTATION FOR MARAD
STATE PASS OPIC FOR ZHAN AND MSTUCKART
STATE PASS TDA FOR NCABOT
STATE PASS EXIM FOR JRICHTER
STATE PASS USTR FOR ASST USTR SLISER
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: 09/20/2015
TAGS: EPET PGOV ASEC PTER KHLS PINR ETRD CASC NI
SUBJECT: OIL WORKER HOSTAGE UPDATE SITREP #9

REF: A. LAGOS 69 AND PREVIOUS

B. ABUJA 76

Classified By: Acting Consul General William H. Howe for Reasons 1.4 (D
& E)

----------------------
Hostage Welfare Update
----------------------

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 LAGOS 000070

SIPDIS

STATE PASS DOE FOR DAS JBRODMAN AND CGAY
TREASURY FOR ASEVERENS AND SRENENDER
COMMERCE FOR KBURRESS
STATE PASS TRANSPORTATION FOR MARAD
STATE PASS OPIC FOR ZHAN AND MSTUCKART
STATE PASS TDA FOR NCABOT
STATE PASS EXIM FOR JRICHTER
STATE PASS USTR FOR ASST USTR SLISER
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: 09/20/2015
TAGS: EPET PGOV ASEC PTER KHLS PINR ETRD CASC NI
SUBJECT: OIL WORKER HOSTAGE UPDATE SITREP #9

REF: A. LAGOS 69 AND PREVIOUS

B. ABUJA 76

Classified By: Acting Consul General William H. Howe for Reasons 1.4 (D
& E)

--------------
Hostage Welfare Update
--------------


1. (C) At 22:00 January 19, Chris Jones, Tidex Operations
Manager in Port Harcourt (PH),spoke with all four hostages,
starting with Nigel Watson Clark, the British Ecodrill
employee. Clark told him that AmCit Pat Landry was not well.
He said constant movement, mosquitoes, and diarrhoea were
taking their toll.


2. (C) Clark reiterated the kidnappers' demands: the
release of the ex-governor of Bayelsa, the release of Joshua
Maharba (Note. Jones spells the name in his report as he
heard it. It appeared in an e-mail as Joshua Macaiva. End
Note.),the release of another person whose name was
inaudible, and $1.5 billion to be paid by Shell to the
Bayelsa State Government as reparations for environmental
degradation (Note. In 2003, the Nigerian House of
Representatives ordered Shell to pay this amount over ten
years. Shell has been the defendent in several
environmentally-based class action lawsuits and as recently
as January 2, 2006 was directed by a Federal High Court to
pay a community in Abia State 1.8 billion naira, about $13.5
million. End Note.). He also said the kidnappers did not
recognize the committee established by the President to deal
with the hostage situation.


3. (C) Jones then spoke to Patrick Landry, whom he
recognized immediately. Pat reiterated that he was not well,
suffering from diarrhea and being bitten by mosquitoes.

Jones, who has known Landry for years, said he genuinely
sounded ill.


4. (C) Jones' conversations with Honduran captive Ebanks
and Bulgarian captive Nitchev were shorter and both hostages
stressed the difficult conditions and the need for quick
rescue. Jones then spoke to a man claiming to be the
"commander" of the group. This man said his group would hit
targets in Bayelsa and Rivers State on January 20 and would
take the hostages with them. He said anything that happened
to the hostages as a result would be Jones' or Tidex's fault.


5. (C) Reuters Correspondent Tom Ashby had at least two
communications with the kidnappers and one with the hostages
on January 19. His conversations with the hostages about
their conditions and the demands mirror the Tidex
conversations; however, he additionally reports that Landry
pleaded for help from the U.S. Embassy. (Note. Ashby agreed
to provide ConGen Lagos with a tape of the interview for
review. End Note.)

-------------- --------------
GON Efforts Lack Coordination, Yield Little Information
-------------- --------------


6. (C) GON efforts to deal with the hostage crisis continue
to be disjointed. The Governor of Bayelsa state held a
meeting of Ijaw communities affected by the upsurge in
violence, but community leaders pretended not to know
anything about the group or its activities. Bayelsa's Deputy
Governor was supposed to pay a visit on village chiefs in the
Ekeremor local government area, where he comes from and where
the Joint Task Force (JTF) believes the kidnappers are most
active, but he has so far been unable to arrange these visits.


7. (C) The call from the kidnappers to Tidex was
facilitated through the Port Harcourt State Security Service
(SSS) Headquarters; however, USG officials were recently told
that communication with the kidnappers was being handled
through the JTF in Yenagoa. It is also unclear what role the
Delta State Police Command, supposedly in contact with
Shell's Warri crisis team, is playing. The Nigerian Navy
continues to be out of touch with either the JTF or the
crisis team.
-------------- --------------
Rivers Governor Discusses Strategy, Blames Alamieyeseigha
-------------- --------------

8. (SBU) British Consul General Peter Waterworth and
Vice-Consul Tony Ward told Rivers State Governor Odili that
the hostage situation needed to be kept separate from broader
political issues and the hostages needed to be top priority.
Odili said the Governors of Bayelsa and Delta States were the
key players and that the military and security authorities
were being deliberately kept out of the picture.


9. (SBU) Odili said he had a "hunch" youths associated with
violence in 2003 had allied with supporters of impeached
Bayelsa Governor Alamieyeseigha to create the Movement for
the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND). He believes the
former governor used the time between his return from the UK
and his impeachment to build up support. He does not feel
that the group has the capacity to extend its scope of
operations, but he said the sophistication of their attacks
indicated influence from "external agents."


10. (SBU) Shell Nigeria MD Basil Omiyi agreed with the
Governor's remarks in a separate conversation with the
British. He added that Asari had not been capable of the
sophistication demonstrated so far by MEND but Alamieyeseigha
was and that his influence and ability to resolve area
kidnappings had extended so far that he had been nicknamed
the "Governor General of the Delta." Omiyi also pointed to
an e-mail he had received post-arrest from Asari's
spokeswoman Cynthia White, which promised that militants
would "step up their game" as it was Asari who had reined
them in. Omiyi has been reassured by the GON that it would
take no action to prejudice the safety of the hostages, and
he believes a resolution will be effected in the "usual
Nigerian way."

--------------
U.S. Mission Actions
--------------


11. (C) At an EAC meeting at 07:30 January 20, Legatt
advised their negotiator was arriving and would plan to leave
with Econoff John Marcinek for Warri on the morning of
January 21. They will link up with SSS officials and the
Shell crisis team to facilitate communications with the
abductors. They will establish access to the GON's command
center and GON negotiators to insure that the hostages
receive humanitarian assistance.


12. (C) PolCouns said the Ambassador had been in touch
frequently both with the highest levels of the GON and with
the British High Commissioner. He said the Ambassador had
offered to act as a channel of communication but not advocate
with the GON for the companies involved in negotiations.
ConGen Lagos has updated the Honduran attache and the
Bulgarian Ambassador, both of whom said they had made
representations to the GON on behalf of their citizens.


13. (SBU) RSO Lagos released a tearline report that
information of unknown credibility indicates a moslem
fundamentalist group has been casing specific Exxon and
Chevron compounds to RSO Exxon/Chevron security contacts.
HOWE