Monrovia — At least 13 farm workers are dead after a violent clash over a plot of farmland 55 kilometers south-east of the capital, Monrovia.
The land, at the border of Margibi and Grand Bassa counties, has been claimed by both Senator Roland Kahn and Charles Bennie, a former official of a defunct rebel group.
The superintendent of the county told a local radio station that many more people could be dead as some are still "missing in action." Police director Beatrice Munah Sieh said the bodies discovered so far were found dumped in the nearby Farmington River. The bodies reportedly show evidence of gunshot and machete wounds.
One survivor reported that he was taken to the area by Charles Bennie to help clear brush on his land. In the forest, he said, he and the other workers were attacked by men wielding machetes and single-barreled firearms.
In an interview with AllAfrica, Information Minister Laurence Bropleh said the government is "alarmed" by the incident and is investigating through the Ministry of Justice.
Bropleh said the farm was established by Charles Bennie and that there are "allegations" of Senator Khan being linked to the clash.
Many Liberians have been upset at reports that police have not made any arrests. However, county superintendent Levi Piah said some suspects have, in fact, been arrested.
Many callers on a local radio program expressed frustration at what they see as the impunity of Liberia's elite – a clear reference to the alleged involvement of Senator Kahn and Charles Bennie. "Land disputes in this country [have] become a national crisis" said one caller, "and if nothing is done to address it with urgency, we could be heading back to where we came from."
Liberia is currently recovering from 14 years of civil war, during which many farms were taken over or defended by rebels. As the country rebuilds, land and property values have increased considerably, and many investors and refugee returnees are looking to buy and reclaim land left unoccupied or squatted on by former fighters.
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Earlier this year two clans in Liberia's south-eastern Maryland County fought over land, killing two people. Controversy and tension over land rights may have led to the November 2007 death of a Belgian employee of the Liberian Agricultural Company in Grand Bassa County. He was shot dead while surveying property for the company's planned expansion into a local community.
