This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

C O N F I D E N T I A L LAGOS 000774 
 
SIPDIS 
 
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: 06/04/2016 
TAGS: EPET PGOV ASEC PTER CASC NI HOSTAGES
SUBJECT: NIGERIA: JUNE 2-4 HOSTAGE-TAKING - ADDITIONAL 
DETAILS 
 
Classified By: Consul General Brian L. Browne for Reason 1.4 (D and E). 
 
 
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HOSTAGE-TAKING DUE TO COMMUNITY DISPUTE, 
BUT WITH OUTSIDE EXPERTISE AND INTEREST 
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¶1.  (C) Released AmCit hostage Texas Richards confirmed the 
weekend hostage-taking was primarily a local community-based 
incident.  Richards said the hostage-takers were local 
villagers armed with older, poorly-maintained weapons.  The 
hostages were held in Duwumi village (Ekeremor local 
government area in Bayelsa).  Richards said he recognized 
villagers who had previously worked aboard the rig, and also 
saw four uniformed Mobile Policemen who were clearly part of 
the community.  Richards said the hostages were well treated 
and fed. 
 
¶2.  (C) Richards did not recognize the two men who led the 
kidnappers, but said they were better armed than the rest of 
the gang and seemed to have some experience in wielding 
weapons and authority.  Richards described the hostage-taking 
as efficient and fairly well-planned, with the attackers 
knowing the layout of the rig.  (Comment:  It is unlikely 
that residents of a small village could carry out a 
hostage-taking as efficiently as this one.  Either a few of 
the "sons" of the village have joined a militant group and 
returned home to ply their craft on behalf of their 
townspeople, or the two unrecognized leaders could be "hired 
guns" with experience from other attacks.  End comment.) 
 
¶3.  (C) According to Richards, approximately fifty 
heavily-armed men claiming to be from the Movement for the 
Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) visited Duwumi June 3 
and 4.  Richards said their local captors were frightened by 
these heavily-armed visitors.  Richards described an apparent 
dispute over control of the hostages.  For a brief period, 
the hostages were hidden in the nearby brush when the locals 
thought MEND would try to strong-arm the hostages from them. 
Nonetheless, the community group retained control of the 
hostages, and released them on Sunday.  (Comment:  MEND 
claims it is observing an informal cease-fire to give the GON 
time to honor its commitments to bring economic development 
projects to the Niger Delta.  If the heavily-armed visitors 
were MEND, two conflicting interpretations of their presence 
are possible.  The most likely is that the informal 
cease-fire is fraying and MEND wanted to exploit this 
hostage-taking to its advantage.  The other, albeit less 
likely, interpretation is that MEND had promised the Bayelsa 
State governor that it would help end the kidnapping as it 
did not want to be accused of causing it.  Thus, they sent 
some heavily-armed members to "encourage" the local abductors 
to quickly free their captives.  End comment.) 
 
¶4.  (C) Equator Exploration said they were reviewing security 
regarding the fourteen Dolphin Drilling personnel remaining 
on the rig (thirteen expatriates), and will maintain ship 
patrols between the rig and the shore and begin holding 
emergency drills. 
 
¶5.  (U) Bayelsa State has summoned leaders of the affected 
local community, executives of Peak oil company and federal 
government officials to a meeting in Yenagoa, the state 
capital, in order to work out a modus vivendi that would 
discourage further incidents. 
BROWNE