Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09MONROVIA809
2009-11-03 16:09:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Monrovia
Cable title:  

HEAD OF CONCESSIONS COMMISSION MURDERED

Tags:  ECON EAGR CASC ASEC KCRM PREL PGOV LI 
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VZCZCXRO7598
RR RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHMV #0809 3071609
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 031609Z NOV 09
FM AMEMBASSY MONROVIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1441
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC
UNCLAS MONROVIA 000809 

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O.12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON EAGR CASC ASEC KCRM PREL PGOV LI
SUBJECT: HEAD OF CONCESSIONS COMMISSION MURDERED

REF: MONROVIA 808 (NOTAL)

UNCLAS MONROVIA 000809

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O.12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON EAGR CASC ASEC KCRM PREL PGOV LI
SUBJECT: HEAD OF CONCESSIONS COMMISSION MURDERED

REF: MONROVIA 808 (NOTAL)


1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Keith Jubah, chairman of the Public Procurement
and Concessions Commission and President of the Rubber Planters
Association, was shot to death November 1 outside his home at the
Morris Farm near Kakata. Although police have identified three
suspects, reports against them remain circumstantial and no
information puts them at the scene of the crime. Police are
expanding their investigation to other motive areas. In Monrovia,
many believe Jubah was killed over a land dispute that arose after
the Rubber Planters' Association appropriated idle rubber farms at
the beginning of President Sirleaf's administration. END SUMMARY.



2. (SBU) American citizen Keith Jubah (reftel),chairman of the
Public Procurement and Concessions Commission and a longtime ally of
President Sirleaf, was killed by three assailants November 1 outside
his home at the Morris Farm near Kakata (about 20 miles outside of
Monrovia),where Jubah was managing director. Morris Farm is a
rubber plantation operated by the Morris-American Rubber Company
(MARCO). At approximately 9:00 pm, the attackers called to Jubah as
he was returning home. When Jubah exited the car, the attackers
shot him, doused his body with gasoline and set it on fire. A woman
who was in the house at the time witnessed much of the event.


3. (SBU) Two suspects were apprehended on November 2 and a third
eluded arrest following information that they made threats against
Jubah after he fired them as security guards at the farm. However,
UNPOL Senior advisor Jack Nielsen, who is assisting the Liberia
National Police (LNP) in the investigation, cautioned that the
evidence against them remains circumstantial and no concrete
information links them to the scene of the crime. No weapon has
been found and no confessions have been made, and the suspects may
have an alibi. The LNP is therefore broadening its investigation to
motive areas, including a possible land dispute.


4. (SBU) An alternative theory circulating among Liberians involves
unresolved land disputes from Jubah's tenure as President of the
Rubber Planters' Association (RPA). Ernest Jones, deputy minister
of Lands, Mines and Energy, and one of the senior GOL officials
involved in land reform, suggested that when President Sirleaf took
office in 2006, the RPA repossessed and managed many small rubber
plantations that had grown fallow during years of civil conflict.
The RPA sold rubber from these otherwise idle plantations to
Firestone Natural Rubber Company, which had the means to export it
for further processing. The original owners of these farms, many of
whom had fled when rebels invaded their plantations, believe the RPA
illicitly appropriated their land and failed to compensate them, and
Jones offered that one of these disgruntled farmers may be behind
the murder.


5. (SBU) According to Nielsen, LNP Director Marc Amblard, who is
presently in Abuja, is following the case closely and seems to be
concerned by the developments. He initially complained about lack
of cooperation from UNPOL, but Acting UNPOL Commissioner Gautam
Sawang has stepped up UNPOL involvement. Nielsen said that the
gunshot wound is consistent with a shotgun (which are permitted
under the UN arms embargo) and not with an AK-47 (which are not) as
has been reported in the press.


6. (SBU) COMMENT: Whether or not a land dispute motivated Jubah's
murderers, the fact that many Liberians believe it to be so
underscores the widespread conviction that even long-dormant
conflicts over land could erupt into violence at any time. Jubah's
role at the Public Procurement and Concessions Commission seems a
less likely impetus for his murder. While Jubah competently
advocated President Sirleaf's anti-corruption agenda, advocating
stricter procurement procedures and transparent concessions
processes, he was not known as an aggressive crusader who would have
made powerful enemies among those who wished to secure lucrative
timber or mining concessions. No matter the motive, the
horrifically brutal murder of a prominent government official has
sent a shock wave through the government.

THOMAS-GREENFIELD