MULTIPLE ATTACKS ON AGIP FACILITIES; NINE POLICE

C O N F I D E N T I A L LAGOS 000091 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: MULTIPLE ATTACKS ON AGIP FACILITIES; NINE POLICE DEAD REF: A. LAGOS 90 AND PREVIOUS ¶B. ABUJA 120 ¶C. 2005 LAGOS 1477 Classified By: Acting Consul General William Howe for Reasons 1.4 (D & E) ¶1. (U) Late afternoon on January 24, Agip's Port Harcourt headquarters was attacked and a bank on the premises was robbed. Eyewitnesses described the attackers as 30 youths dressed as police, traveling in speedboats, who immediately began a firefight with police. Nine policemen and 2 civilians were killed in the crossfire, and the attackers cleaned out the bank. ¶2. (SBU) In the morning of January 23, youths attacked an AGIP flowstation in Obama, Bayelsa State. A company security official confirmed that the control room was ransacked, portable radios and other equipment stolen, and one employee "roughed up." Press reports one casualty in the incident. ¶3. (U) Unconfirmed reports on January 24 also indicate massive Ijaw protests in the Borokiri area of Port Harcourt, near the naval base, as well as a clash between soldiers and youths in the Okorama area of Bayelsa state. ¶4. (C) Comment: While it is possible the attacks on AGIP are related to the threats made by the kidnappers of four Shell expatriate contractors to carry out additional attacks on oil installations (ref A),there is currently no evidence for this. Militant groups in the Delta region have often taken advantage of a general breakdown in order and stability to replenish cash needed for operations, such as the September 2005 attack on a bank located at the Wilbros oil service company compound at Choba (ref C). Shell and AGIP also operate in many adjoining areas; when Shell is attacked, AGIP is next in line. However, the large scale of the January 24 attack could possibly suggest similarities to the initial attack on the Sea Eagle and subsequent kidnappings. Regardless of any formal connection between the perpetrators of these attacks, the prolonged abduction of the four Shell contractors appears to have emboldened local youths in their attacks on oil company facilities. End Comment. HOWE