US embassy cable - 03ABUJA1387

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Identifier:	03ABUJA1387
Wikileaks:	View 03ABUJA1387 at Wikileaks.org
Origin:	Embassy Abuja
Created:	2003-08-14 17:44:00
Classification:	CONFIDENTIAL
Tags:	EPET PGOV ASEC PINS NI
Redacted:	This cable was not redacted by Wikileaks.

C O N F I D E N T I A L ABUJA 001387 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/14/2013 
TAGS: EPET, PGOV, ASEC, PINS, NI 
SUBJECT: WARRI CRISIS UPDATE 14AUG03 
 
 
REF: ABUJA 1378 AND PREVIOUS 
 
 
1.(U) Classified by Charge' d'Affaires a.i. Rick Roberts for 
reasons 1.5 (b) and (d). 
 
 
2.(SBU) Ijaw militants the evening of August 13 attacked an 
Itsekiri village near Gbomwei -- the Ijaw village attacked 
August 12 -- Shell's Warri-based security manager Tony Obuaya 
told Corporate Responsibility Officer (CRO) August 14.  Ijaw 
national leader Chief Edwin K. Clark gave CRO a slightly 
different report of what seems to have been the same incident 
-- saying that Ijaw militants confronted Itsekiris returning 
to re-attack Gbomwei in the evening of August 13, prompting 
an extensive gun battle in the creek opposite Warri town. 
Whichever is true, this incident may be what was reported in 
Nigeria's "The Guardian" August 14, entitled "Mystery gunfire 
causes panic in Warri" (this is available on website 
www.ngrguardiannews.com).  The "heavy gun-shots" reported in 
the article were fired in the evening in the Warri port area, 
which faces the village of Gbomwei. 
 
 
3.(C) According to Shell's Obuaya, additional police and 
military have deployed to Warri town, and he expects these 
new units to move out into the creeks "very soon." 
ROBERTS