NIGERIA: JTF, MILITANTS CLASH IN DELTA STATE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 LAGOS 000230 SIPDIS DOE FOR GPERSON, CHAYLOCK E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/19/2019 TAGS: PGOV PINS MOPS EPET NI SUBJECT: NIGERIA: JTF, MILITANTS CLASH IN DELTA STATE Classified By: Consul General Donna M. Blair for reasons 1.4 (B) and (D ) ¶1. (C) On May 15 units from Nigeria's Joint Task Force attacked militants associated with militant leader Tompolo near his main base, Camp Five, in Delta State. Press and Post contacts report that the military occupied Camp Five after a sustained assault. Press stories put the total JTF and militant casualties at between 60 and 100, but both sides claim they have inflicted heavy losses on the other. An Amcit NGO contact with connections to local communities near Camp Five reported that the village of Oporoza in the Gbaramatu Kingdom in Delta State was attacked by the JTF during the fighting. She claims there were significant civilian casualties. The traditional ruler of the Gbaramatu communities has told local reporters that several villages in his area were attacked and security contacts at Chevron and Exxon believe that JTF units hit villages near Camp Five on Friday and over the weekend. ¶2. (C) A contact with ExxonMobil's security department who is a former Nigerian SSS officer reported on May 15 that a helicopter operated by Pan African and contracted to Chevron was hit by gunfire while operating in the vicinity of the Escravos oil facility located near Camp Five. No casualties were reported and the helicopter landed safely in Escravos. On May 18 the same contact reported that the militants had stepped up "sabotage operations" in Delta State hitting a Shell-owned oil flowstation, an Agip pipeline, and the NNPC-owned trunk line between Escravos and the Warri Refinery in Delta State. A contact with Chevron Nigeria Ltd's government affairs department verified on May 16 that the company had evacuated non-essential personnel from Escravos. He expected oil operations to coninue as normal, but executives from other oil companies thought Chevron may declare force majeure on some oil exports from the oil terminal. Executives from oil service companies working for Chevron report that the company has ordered all movement and work around Escravos and associated oil fields suspended. ¶3. (C) Also on May 18, the ExxonMobil contact reported that Ijaw leader Chief Edwin Clark proposed a meeting of Ijaw leaders and traditional rulers to be held in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State the week of May 18 to discuss the situation. The GON and Bayelsa state officials refused to allow the meeting to take place. ¶4. (C) The JTF attacks appears to be in response to two incidents that occurred on May 13. Two ships, the M/V Spirit and M/V Chikana were hijacked, allegedly by militants associated with Tompolo. The M/V Spirit was a Honduran-flagged tanker contracted to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation taking petroleum condensate to the Warri refinery. Additionally on May 13, militants clashed with a JTF patrol boat passing by a satellite camp near Camp Five. Several JTF sailors were reportedly killed in the incident. As a result of the JTF assault on Tompolo, press reports say 9 of the 15 hostages taken during the ship hijackings were freed, although one or two of the hostages may have been killed during attack. ¶5. (C) Comment: This is the most serious outbreak of violence in at least two years in Delta State, an area considered in recent times relatively calm among the three traditional conflict prone Niger Delta States. Tit for tat attacks are common in the Niger Delta, but this is a much larger assault on Delta State militants than we've seen in the recent past. Tompolo was thought by many to be focused on his businesses, legitimate and otherwise, and less inclined to take on the JTF directly. The situation in Rivers State is always volatile. In Bayelsa, falling state income due to lower oil prices forced the state to cut the payments it had been making to militant leaders in exchange for relative peace. Militant leaders may take advantage of a distracted JTF to launch attacks of opportunity in their areas, or they may feel obliged to help Tompolo in his battle with the JTF, if nothing else to prevent the JTF from wiping out Tompolo and turning its full attention onto them. At the very least, increased attacks on oil facilities throughout LAGOS 00000230 002 OF 002 the Niger Delta is possible as is an upsurge in JTF-militant fighting spreading to other states. End Comment. BLAIR