US embassy cable - 04LAGOS192

C O N F I D E N T I A L LAGOS 000192 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/26/2014 
TAGS: PINR, EPET, MOPS, PGOV, PINS, NI 
SUBJECT: NEW YEAR OFFERS NO REPRIEVE FROM DELTA VIOLENCE 
 
REF: 2003 LAGOS 2193 
 
Classified By: R. HINSON-JONES FOR REASONS 1.5 (B) AND (D) 
 
1. (SBU) SUMMARY. The New Year has so far offered Nigeria's 
Delta region little reprieve from the violence that marked 
2003.  Recent incidents reflect heightened tensions in the 
Warri area, and ethnic clashes remain a constant possibility. 
 While it was hoped that attempts at dialogue between the 
warring groups would sow seeds of promise, the Ijaws and the 
Itsekiris are each becoming factionalized internally and 
leaders are finding it difficult to reign in the disaffected. 
 The Urhobo may also become more violent. END SUMMARY. 
 
2. (SBU) On January 8, a group of Itsekiri attacked boats 
carrying Ijaw traveling to a local market. Newspapers 
reported 18 deaths, and private security consultants in the 
Warri area told us it was likely that at least 10 Ijaw were 
killed. As usual, details remain largely uncorroborated, as 
reports from the area are sketchy, contradictory, and prone 
to exaggeration.  For example, an Itsekiri activist group 
issued a press release soon after the incident describing a 
nearly reverse-image of what now appears to be the truth; the 
group claimed that Ijaw militants in speed boats attacked and 
killed 18 Itsekiri returning home from a celebration.  All 
other sources indicate an Itsekiri militant youth group named 
the Gallant Boys killed Ijaw villagers.  The Gallant Boys, 
ostensibly operating independently, had not been known for 
violent attacks prior to this incident.  Ijaw leaders have 
appealed for calm and claim they will refrain from a 
retaliatory attack, unless further provoked.  In a separate 
incident, Ijaw activists held a press conference on January 
13 stating that a group of Itsekiri attacked an Ijaw boat and 
kidnapped an Ijaw traditional chief. 
 
3. (U) Over the weekend of January 17, ethnic Itsekiri from 
the village of Obonti reportedly clashed with ethnic Urhobo 
from the neighboring village of Ugbokurusu located outside 
Sapele.  No deaths have been reported.  The two communities 
have been fighting since 1999 over a nearby oil well.  In 
2001 the Urhobo attacked Obonti, so this recent attack by the 
Itsekiri may have been in retaliation.  An Itsekiri youth 
leader disappointed with the violence told us he believes 
that the dispute had already been settled, and questioned 
whether Itsekiri elders failed in not resolving the issue 
through dialogue earlier.  The youth reported that leaders 
have condemned the attack and called for calm, highlighting 
the Itsekiri's gratefulness to the Urhobo who help shelter 
thousands of displaced Itsekiris around Sapele. 
 
4.  (C) Dennis Amachree, security manager for Halliburton, 
reported that tension has increased, with a risk that further 
clashes between these groups could spread along the main 
highway between Warri and Benin City. Thousands of Itsekiri 
displaced by violence from their villages in the riverine 
area of the Delta have been living for the past year in and 
around Sapele, which is largely an Urhobo community.  This 
situation differs from that of the past several months in 
that an outbreak of violence in Sapele, a modestly developed 
town connected to the outside world by roads, power and 
telecommunications, could spread far more quickly than 
clashes occurring in villages isolated deep in the swamps. 
 
5. (U) On January 15, soldiers assigned to Joint Task Force 
Operation Restore Hope reportedly engaged militant Ijaw youth 
in a gun battle while conducting a "cordon and search" 
operation in the village of Bomadi. One of the tasks of 
security forces in the Delta is to disarm the warring ethnic 
factions, which the Task Force tries to do by means of 
occasional village-level sweeps and house-to-house searches. 
Newspaper accounts quoted Bomadi residents as saying 10 
militants were killed during the January 15 incident, while a 
military spokesman was quoted as saying one militant and one 
soldier were killed. 
 
6. (SBU) COMMENT: These latest incidents may indicate a new 
boldness on the part of the Itsekiri, who told Mission staff 
several months ago that they were growing increasingly 
resentful of being displaced from their homes and would 
return to what they consider their traditional lands by 
whatever means necessary (reftel).  The Gallant Boys may be 
driving this new wave of violence; if so, it may signify the 
emergence of greater factionalization amongst the Itsekiri. 
Should the Itsekiri around Sapele clash more frequently with 
their neighbors, we are likely to see more militancy among 
the Urhobo, who, of the three ethnic groups vying for power 
and representation in the Delta, have thus far been the least 
involved in violence.  END COMMENT. 
HINSON-JONES