UPDATE: MURDER OF ERITREAN BUSINESSMAN FIKRE

C O N F I D E N T I A L ASMARA 000102 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR AF/E, LONDON AND PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/26/2018 TAGS: PGOV KCRM ER SUBJECT: UPDATE: MURDER OF ERITREAN BUSINESSMAN FIKRE REF: A. 07 ASMARA 821 ¶B. 07 ASMARA 838 ¶C. 07 ASMARA 850 Classified By: Ambassador Ronald K. McMullen for Reason 1.4 (d) ¶1. (C) A mid-ranking Eritrean National Security Agency (ANS) officer told Emboff how Eritrean businessman Fikremariam Andemariam (Fikre) had been murdered in jail in October 2007, a crime which prompted the later assassination attempt on the Deputy Chief of the ANS overseeing the investigation into the murder. According to the ANS source, one of Fikre's business competitors known as Samson, "the civilian general," also engaged with senior military officers in lucrative illegal business ventures, poisoned Fikre while visiting him in jail. ¶2. (C) Despite Fikre being under heavy guard with access restricted to only a few high Government of the State of Eritrea (GSE) officials, Samson was able to gain access to Fikre by means of a letter from Major General Gerezgheir Andemariam (Wuchu),Commander of Operation Area 2 near Barentu and "business" partner with Samson. The signed letter from Wuchu both explains the speed with which the ANS was able to identify, track down, and eventually kill Samson and early rumors of Wuchu's involvement in the crime. MCMULLEN