Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09LIBREVILLE256
2009-06-04 12:15:00
SECRET
Embassy Libreville
Cable title:
GABON CLAIMS NIGER DELTA MILITANTS IN SAO TOME
how-toVZCZCXRO0427 PP RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHMR RUEHPA RUEHRN RUEHTRO DE RUEHLC #0256/01 1551215 ZNY SSSSS ZZH P 041215Z JUN 09 FM AMEMBASSY LIBREVILLE TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1196 INFO RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE
S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 LIBREVILLE 000256
SIPDIS
AF/C PLEASE ALSO PASS MALABO AND BANGUI
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/28/2019
TAGS: PGOV PINR PREL MARR SNAR GB TP NI
SUBJECT: GABON CLAIMS NIGER DELTA MILITANTS IN SAO TOME
Classified By: Political Officer Christopher Gunning for reasons 1.4 (b
) and (d).
-------
Summary
-------
S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 LIBREVILLE 000256
SIPDIS
AF/C PLEASE ALSO PASS MALABO AND BANGUI
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/28/2019
TAGS: PGOV PINR PREL MARR SNAR GB TP NI
SUBJECT: GABON CLAIMS NIGER DELTA MILITANTS IN SAO TOME
Classified By: Political Officer Christopher Gunning for reasons 1.4 (b
) and (d).
--------------
Summary
--------------
1. (C) Gabon's defense minister claims that a senior
official in Sao Tome and Principe (STP) recently told him
that militants from Nigeria's Movement for the Emancipation
of the Niger Delta (MEND) have infiltrated the
Portuguese-speaking island nation off Nigeria's coast.
Meanwhile, in Gabon, officials searched a small island near
Libreville for material they suspected had been delivered for
MEND operatives in Gabon. They found nothing. End Summary.
--------------
MEND in Sao Tome?
--------------
2. (C) Gabonese Defense Minister Ali Bongo Ondimba told the
Ambassador May 30 that a senior official from the
Portuguese-speaking nation of STP recently reported that the
island of Principe has been infiltrated by MEND militants.
Principe is in the Gulf of Guinea, about 150 miles off the
coast of Nigeria. According to Bongo, STP Minister for
Internal Security Raul Cravid said that Principe is a staging
point for MEND activities and "we can't do anything with
them." Bongo reported that STP officials are also concerned
about weapons and drug smuggling. We had been aware of STP
concerns over smuggling, but senior officials including
Cravid have not raised the specter of MEND with us before.
The Ambassador spoke to Bongo in the course of a wide-ranging
discussion reported septels.
--------------
Search of an Island Near Libreville
--------------
3. (C) On May 15, senior officials of Gabon's paramilitary
Gendarmerie led a search of a small island north of
Libreville, apparently investigating reports of MEND-related
arms trafficking. A local employee of the Embassy's RSO
office met the officials by chance when he was in the area on
other business. One senior official told our colleague that
his men were searching for "boxes" of material allegedly
associated with MEND. No "boxes" or weapons were found. The
area searched is inhabited by Nigerian immigrants, many of
them in Gabon illegally.
4. (C) The Gendarmerie officer added that he hoped to search
another nearby site, Nende Island, soon. Coincidentally, our
defense attache was on the island the same day, scouting a
possible location for a joint U.S.-Gabonese radar facility.
Nende Island is also inhabited by about 150 Nigerians whose
primary occupation is fishing.
-------------- -
Gabon Sees Illegal Nigerians as Growing Threat
-------------- -
5. (S) At least twice in the past year, the Embassy has
provided Gabonese officials with tearline information on
possible MEND activity here. Senior Gabonese intel officials
subsequently claimed the information we provided was
consistent with other information the Gabonese developed
independently from local fishermen and other sources. One
official also claimed that Gabon has sources "in Nigeria" who
report some targeting of Gabon. Quite apart from MEND,
however, Gabonese security officials report growing concern
over the activity of Nigerian criminal elements in Gabon.
Rightly or wrongly, for instance, Gabonese officials assert
that Nigerians dominate the growing drug trade.
6. (C) Gabon's concerns come against a backdrop of numerous
incidents in the region ascribed to Niger Delta militants.
These incidents include attacks in 2008 and 2009 in Cameroon
and attacks in 2007 and 2009 in Equatorial Guinea. Gabon,
already concerned about the security threat posed by illegal
Nigerians, is giving these issues greater attention. To help
secure Gabonese land and maritime borders, the Gabonese
Government is working both independently and in conjunction
with the Economic Community of Central African States (CEEAC
in its French acronym).
--------------
Comment
--------------
7. (C) We are unable to verify the claim of a MEND presence
in the island of Principe. The small and sparsely populated
LIBREVILLE 00000256 002 OF 002
island is remote even from neighboring Sao Tome. It has
numerous small coves, no regular air service, and only
sproadic public boat transport to Sao Tome. However, the
Gabonese concerns strike us a genuine. For Gabon, like
others in the region, Nigerian threats including MEND are a
growing preoccupation -- and a convienant scapegoat. End
Comment.
REDDICK
SIPDIS
AF/C PLEASE ALSO PASS MALABO AND BANGUI
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/28/2019
TAGS: PGOV PINR PREL MARR SNAR GB TP NI
SUBJECT: GABON CLAIMS NIGER DELTA MILITANTS IN SAO TOME
Classified By: Political Officer Christopher Gunning for reasons 1.4 (b
) and (d).
--------------
Summary
--------------
1. (C) Gabon's defense minister claims that a senior
official in Sao Tome and Principe (STP) recently told him
that militants from Nigeria's Movement for the Emancipation
of the Niger Delta (MEND) have infiltrated the
Portuguese-speaking island nation off Nigeria's coast.
Meanwhile, in Gabon, officials searched a small island near
Libreville for material they suspected had been delivered for
MEND operatives in Gabon. They found nothing. End Summary.
--------------
MEND in Sao Tome?
--------------
2. (C) Gabonese Defense Minister Ali Bongo Ondimba told the
Ambassador May 30 that a senior official from the
Portuguese-speaking nation of STP recently reported that the
island of Principe has been infiltrated by MEND militants.
Principe is in the Gulf of Guinea, about 150 miles off the
coast of Nigeria. According to Bongo, STP Minister for
Internal Security Raul Cravid said that Principe is a staging
point for MEND activities and "we can't do anything with
them." Bongo reported that STP officials are also concerned
about weapons and drug smuggling. We had been aware of STP
concerns over smuggling, but senior officials including
Cravid have not raised the specter of MEND with us before.
The Ambassador spoke to Bongo in the course of a wide-ranging
discussion reported septels.
--------------
Search of an Island Near Libreville
--------------
3. (C) On May 15, senior officials of Gabon's paramilitary
Gendarmerie led a search of a small island north of
Libreville, apparently investigating reports of MEND-related
arms trafficking. A local employee of the Embassy's RSO
office met the officials by chance when he was in the area on
other business. One senior official told our colleague that
his men were searching for "boxes" of material allegedly
associated with MEND. No "boxes" or weapons were found. The
area searched is inhabited by Nigerian immigrants, many of
them in Gabon illegally.
4. (C) The Gendarmerie officer added that he hoped to search
another nearby site, Nende Island, soon. Coincidentally, our
defense attache was on the island the same day, scouting a
possible location for a joint U.S.-Gabonese radar facility.
Nende Island is also inhabited by about 150 Nigerians whose
primary occupation is fishing.
-------------- -
Gabon Sees Illegal Nigerians as Growing Threat
-------------- -
5. (S) At least twice in the past year, the Embassy has
provided Gabonese officials with tearline information on
possible MEND activity here. Senior Gabonese intel officials
subsequently claimed the information we provided was
consistent with other information the Gabonese developed
independently from local fishermen and other sources. One
official also claimed that Gabon has sources "in Nigeria" who
report some targeting of Gabon. Quite apart from MEND,
however, Gabonese security officials report growing concern
over the activity of Nigerian criminal elements in Gabon.
Rightly or wrongly, for instance, Gabonese officials assert
that Nigerians dominate the growing drug trade.
6. (C) Gabon's concerns come against a backdrop of numerous
incidents in the region ascribed to Niger Delta militants.
These incidents include attacks in 2008 and 2009 in Cameroon
and attacks in 2007 and 2009 in Equatorial Guinea. Gabon,
already concerned about the security threat posed by illegal
Nigerians, is giving these issues greater attention. To help
secure Gabonese land and maritime borders, the Gabonese
Government is working both independently and in conjunction
with the Economic Community of Central African States (CEEAC
in its French acronym).
--------------
Comment
--------------
7. (C) We are unable to verify the claim of a MEND presence
in the island of Principe. The small and sparsely populated
LIBREVILLE 00000256 002 OF 002
island is remote even from neighboring Sao Tome. It has
numerous small coves, no regular air service, and only
sproadic public boat transport to Sao Tome. However, the
Gabonese concerns strike us a genuine. For Gabon, like
others in the region, Nigerian threats including MEND are a
growing preoccupation -- and a convienant scapegoat. End
Comment.
REDDICK