OIL WORKER HOSTAGE UPDATE SITREP #13

C O N F I D E N T I A L LAGOS 000084 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: 09/20/2015 TAGS: EPET PGOV ASEC PTER KHLS PINR ETRD CASC NI SUBJECT: OIL WORKER HOSTAGE UPDATE SITREP #13 REF: A. LAGOS 82 AND PREVIOUS ¶B. ABUJA 120 Classified By: Acting Consul General William Howe for Reasons 1.4 (D & E) -------------- Hostage Welfare Update -------------- ¶1. (C) The State Secretary to the Government (SSG) of Bayelsa State said an arrangement had been made with the kidnappers to release the hostages at Sagbama, a point near the Delta State border. He said the kidnappers had altered their demands and now requested more infrastructure building in Ijaw communities, amnesty for two of their members involved with a prison break in Port Harcourt late last year, and a guarantee of no military reprisals. The SSG also believed the hostages had been split up, with two in Bayelsa near Delta State and two in Delta near Ondo State, and then brought back together.(Comment. If so, the hostages would have been moved over a large area. Econoff felt that certain state governors were arguing over whose turf would be the staging ground for releasing the hostages. Such considerations may be fueling optimistic predictions of imminent release, on the one hand, but continued delay of the release, on the other. End Comment.) ¶2. (C) The SSG said that he did not think it a good idea for USG or HMG representatives to be at the site of the hostages' release and that they would use military and Bayelsa state government vehicles to bring the four men to the Bayelsa Governor's Compound, where we could then meet them. ¶3. (C) Tony Orubo, a man purporting to be a member of the Movement for the Survival of the Ijaw Ethnic Nationality (MOSIEND) and working with the Bayelsa Governor's team, told econoff that he was in direct contact with the kidnappers and that he expected a resolution of demands tonight with a release of the hostages coming some time later, perhaps by the end of the week. ¶4. (U) However, Minister of Police Affairs, Chief Brodrick Bozimo, reportedly told the Vanguard newspaper on January 22 that "government was yet to establish direct contact with the kidnappers and would want to establish the genuineness of the various groups claiming responsibility for the abduction of the hostages before entering into any negotiation." -------------- Evacuation and Repatriation Planning -------------- ¶5. (C) Shell disclosed that, with 6 hours notice, they expect to be able to fly a corporate jet either to Warri or Port Harcourt. This offer to carry the hostages represents a change in the availability of their jet and could obviate the need to repatriate them on a British Air flight. HOWE