LIBERIA: GOL AND UNMIL RESPOND QUICKLY TO LAC

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MONROVIA 001359

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

AF/W PDAVIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/21/2017
TAGS: PGOV ASEC AMGT EAGR PTER LI
SUBJECT: LIBERIA: GOL AND UNMIL RESPOND QUICKLY TO LAC
MURDER

REF: MONROVIA 1352

Classified By: AMBASSADOR DONALD E. BOOTH FOR REASONS 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) SUMMARY. The Executive Mansion has called the murder
of Liberian Agriculture Company (LAC) General Manager Michael
Bruno "unacceptable" and vowed to find and prosecute the
perpetrators as soon as possible in order to protect
Liberia's investment climate. The Mansion also expressed
concern that the murder may have political implications and
vowed to bring any politicians involved to justice. The
Liberty Party told Embassy PolOff its top officials are being
monitored by the Government of Liberia (GOL) and may be
prohibited from leaving the country. The Liberian National
Police (LNP) sent its Director along with a team of its best
investigators to Grand Bassa County and have detained twenty
persons of interest. No official arrests have been made. The
United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) has secured the LAC
rubber plantation and is providing support to the LNP. END
SUMMARY.

GOL RESPONSE TO MURDER OF MICHAEL BRUNO


2. (C) President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf publicly expressed
sympathy for the loss of Michael Bruno and called for the
perpetrators to be brought to justice as soon as possible.
She called the act "unacceptable" and denounced those
"wishing to create unnecessary tension and terror in the
country, with the objective to undermine efforts of the
government to secure a peaceful and stable environment for
all of its people and foreign residents." Vice President
Joseph Boakai said that the GOL would work to increase
security while helping LAC to bring development and jobs to
the area as planned. Executive Mansion Press Secretary Cyrus
Badio, however, was more pointed. He said that Bruno's death
had political implications and was not an isolated event.
Minister of Justice Philip Banks vowed to act swiftly on the
case and went personally to witness the autopsy of Michael
Bruno.

LNP SENDS DIRECTOR AND TOP INVESTIGATORS, UNMIL SECURES LAC
PLANTATION


3. (U) LNP sent its Director and a top team from the Criminal
Investigations Unit to Grand Bassa County to investigate.
UNMIL has deployed extra troops to the area and secured the
surrounding area of the LAC rubber plantation. United
Nations Police (UNPOL) officers are assisting the LNP with
all parts of the investigation.

ADDITIONAL FACTS ABOUT THE LAC MURDER CASE


4. (C) LNP Chief of Criminal Investigations Steven Zargo
clarified a few facts for us on the case November 20. The
victim was a 36-year-old Belgian named Michael Bruno (press
reports have called him Bruneo Michel, Bruno Michiel, and
other incorrect variations),General Manager of the Liberian
Agriculture Company (LAC). Bruno was driving in Grand Bassa
County November 17 with three African LAC employees (Liberian
and Ghanaian) on the land LAC obtained through its November
15 plantation expansion agreement with the GOL. Between 0800
and 0830 the car was ambushed by villagers and Bruno was shot
dead. The three African employees fled the scene
immediately. They were not harmed. Zargo could not confirm
whether LNP knew of their whereabouts or whether or not they
were involved in the crime. Rumors that Bruno's body was
mutilated are not true. Zargo was present at the post-mortem
investigation and said that Bruno suffered a gun shot wound
to the head.

TWENTY "PERSONS OF INTEREST" DETAINED, NO ARRESTS


5. (C) Though the press reported that twenty people were
arrested as suspects for the murder, Zargo clarified that no
official arrests have been made. He confirmed that "twenty
persons of interest" from surrounding villages have been
detained in a non-prison compound. Zargo said that most of
the detainees were "known troublemakers from the area" and
that several were cooperating with information. He said that
as Liberian law requires that all arrested persons be charged
or released in 48 hours, the LNP would wait to make any
official arrest until they have enough evidence to file any
charges.


6. (C) Zargo emphasized that the investigation was still in
its early stages but vowed that the LNP would leave no stone
unturned in the case. He expressed confidence that the
murder was not linked to the bank truck robbery, but could
not rule out that the incident was premeditated nor that the

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three LAC African employees in the car were involved. His
biggest concern was keeping the general peace in Grand Bassa
County. He said that local population could become violent
easily and worried that they may turn against the police for
investigating the crime.

EXECUTIVE MANSION PRESS SECRETARY WARNS OF POLITICAL TIES TO
MURDER


7. (C) Executive Mansion Press Secretary Cyrus Badio said at
a press conference November 19 that the murder "had political
implications" and "wasn't isolated." He vowed that any
politicians found to have ties to the murder would face
justice. As of November 20, no political party in country
had yet issued a statement expressing condolences, including
the Liberty Party, which controls five of the six seats in
Grand Bassa County. Senator Nathaniel Innis of the Grand
Bassa County Liberty Party expressed condolences for Bruno's
death in a radio interview but then continued on to say that
the murder could have been avoided if local people had been
included in the LAC expansion negotiations.

LIBERTY PARTY FACES SCRUTINY, POSSIBLE TRAVEL BAN


8. (C) The Chairman of the Liberty Party Israel Akinsanya
told us that the GOL was actively trying to link his party to
the murder and worried that party officials would soon be
threatened. He said that GOL security forces had been
ordered to monitor the movement of all senior Liberty party
officials and prohibit them from exiting Liberia through all
border crossings, airports and sea ports. There have been no
official announcements, however, that Liberty Party personnel
are considered suspects or are subject to any travel ban.


9. (C) COMMENT: There is no evidence yet directly linking the
Liberty Party to the murder of Michael Bruno. However,
because it is considered the most serious opposition to the
ruling Unity Party, and its popular base has always been
Grand Bassa County, the Liberty Party has been implicated in
the public eye. After Edwin Snowe, who was maneuvered out of
the House Speakership earlier this year, Liberty Party
standard bearer (and 2005 Presidential candidate) Charles
Brumskine is the leading political opponent of President
Sirleaf and her Unity Party. In is quite possible Unity
Party statements are using the murder as a convenient excuse
to undermine Brumskine's and the Liberty Party's ability to
function as an effective opposition.


10. (C) Comment (Cont.): Protection of ancestral land has
been one of the most prominent issues of the Liberty Party's
local campaign. While they may not have ordered the murder
directly, the Party was certainly active in getting the local
population to oppose LAC's expansion. The underlying land
issues that ultimately lead to the murder of Michael Bruno
illustrate exactly why it is so important to Liberia's
development to harmonize the traditional tribal land
certificates with a formal deed system. END COMMENT.
Booth