NIGERIA: JUNE 2-4 HOSTAGE-TAKING - ADDITIONAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L LAGOS 000774

SIPDIS

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: 06/04/2016
TAGS: EPET PGOV ASEC PTER CASC NI HOSTAGES
SUBJECT: NIGERIA: JUNE 2-4 HOSTAGE-TAKING - ADDITIONAL
DETAILS

Classified By: Consul General Brian L. Browne for Reason 1.4 (D and E).


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HOSTAGE-TAKING DUE TO COMMUNITY DISPUTE,
BUT WITH OUTSIDE EXPERTISE AND INTEREST
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1. (C) Released AmCit hostage Texas Richards confirmed the
weekend hostage-taking was primarily a local community-based
incident. Richards said the hostage-takers were local
villagers armed with older, poorly-maintained weapons. The
hostages were held in Duwumi village (Ekeremor local
government area in Bayelsa). Richards said he recognized
villagers who had previously worked aboard the rig, and also
saw four uniformed Mobile Policemen who were clearly part of
the community. Richards said the hostages were well treated
and fed.


2. (C) Richards did not recognize the two men who led the
kidnappers, but said they were better armed than the rest of
the gang and seemed to have some experience in wielding
weapons and authority. Richards described the hostage-taking
as efficient and fairly well-planned, with the attackers
knowing the layout of the rig. (Comment: It is unlikely
that residents of a small village could carry out a
hostage-taking as efficiently as this one. Either a few of
the "sons" of the village have joined a militant group and
returned home to ply their craft on behalf of their
townspeople, or the two unrecognized leaders could be "hired
guns" with experience from other attacks. End comment.)


3. (C) According to Richards, approximately fifty
heavily-armed men claiming to be from the Movement for the
Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) visited Duwumi June 3
and 4. Richards said their local captors were frightened by
these heavily-armed visitors. Richards described an apparent
dispute over control of the hostages. For a brief period,
the hostages were hidden in the nearby brush when the locals
thought MEND would try to strong-arm the hostages from them.
Nonetheless, the community group retained control of the
hostages, and released them on Sunday. (Comment: MEND
claims it is observing an informal cease-fire to give the GON
time to honor its commitments to bring economic development
projects to the Niger Delta. If the heavily-armed visitors
were MEND, two conflicting interpretations of their presence
are possible. The most likely is that the informal
cease-fire is fraying and MEND wanted to exploit this
hostage-taking to its advantage. The other, albeit less
likely, interpretation is that MEND had promised the Bayelsa
State governor that it would help end the kidnapping as it
did not want to be accused of causing it. Thus, they sent
some heavily-armed members to "encourage" the local abductors
to quickly free their captives. End comment.)


4. (C) Equator Exploration said they were reviewing security
regarding the fourteen Dolphin Drilling personnel remaining
on the rig (thirteen expatriates),and will maintain ship
patrols between the rig and the shore and begin holding
emergency drills.


5. (U) Bayelsa State has summoned leaders of the affected
local community, executives of Peak oil company and federal
government officials to a meeting in Yenagoa, the state
capital, in order to work out a modus vivendi that would
discourage further incidents.
BROWNE