Cablegate: July 11 Niger Delta Incident Summary

VZCZCXRO9052
RR RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHOS #1021 2051001
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 241001Z JUL 06
FM AMCONSUL LAGOS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7669
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEHUJA/AMEMBASSY ABUJA 7620

UNCLAS LAGOS 001021

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR AF/W
STATE FOR INR/AA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EPET PGOV ASEC PTER CASC NI
SUBJECT: JULY 11 NIGER DELTA INCIDENT SUMMARY

REF: A. LAGOS 943
B. LAGOS 936
C. LAGOS 912
D. LAGOS 787

1. This is the biweekly roundup of security incidents in the
Niger Delta. This roundup excludes "normal" street crime and
concentrates on particularly serious incidents with a
possible militant or political element. These incidents have
not been reported in other cables or are updates of
previously reported items.

2. June 27 - Nuhu Ribadu, chairman of the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), publicly complained of
death threats by a group calling itself the Niger Delta
Liberation Army (NDLA). (Note: Mission is not familiar with
this group. End note.) Ribadu claims the NDLA, angered over
the EFCC's anticorruption campaign, sent numerous death
threats to Ribadu and other EFCC personnel via SMS text
message threatening attacks in Port Harcourt, Delta State,
and elsewhere in the Delta if former Bayelsa State Governor
Diepreye Alamieyesiegha is not released.

3. June 27 - Workers attacked facilities of construction
firm TSKJ at Nigeria Liquid Natural Gas (NLNG), Bonny Island,
Rivers State, over a labor dispute, disrupting the site until
a settlement was negotiated early on June 28. The workers
reportedly destroyed some TSKJ and Daewoo offices, but
operations returned to normal within a couple of days.

4. June 28 - Over one hundred students from Bakassi stormed
the Cameroon Consulate in Calabar, Cross River State and
pulled down the Cameroonian national flag to protest the
Federal Government's "inhuman" decision to turn the disputed
peninsula over to Cameroon.

5. July 5 - Most of the eighty-eight crew aboard the CONOIL
rig attacked July 4 (reftel A and B) were evacuated except
for a small crew remaining aboard to conduct minimal
operations. The situation was calm and CONOIL is negotiating
with the host community.

6. July 10 - Unidentified attackers threw explosives at the
Port Harcourt residence of Mr. Okey Ezenwa, Rivers State
Governor Peter Odili's brother-in-law. The explosion damaged
a security post outside of the residence, and there are no
injuries reported. This attack is the third such attack
against a prominent, politically-connected citizen in Port
Harcourt in the last two months (reftel C and D).
BROWNE

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