Guyana needs answers

Jun 23, 2008 Editorial

Eight more victims have been added to the body count in this seemingly never-ending spiral of violence that is now literally enveloping our entire country.

The Lusignan massacre of eight sleeping souls – gruesome as it was with the murder of even babes in arms – was at least on the East Coast, where the gunmen had long entrenched themselves.

It fit into an old pattern. But the Bartica slaughter of twelve made even the most battle hardened among us sit up: this was Essequibo – far upriver in Essequibo, for that matter. “Are there no safe havens?” one might have asked, in despair. Now that there has been another slaughter across the country, in the depths of the Berbice River, the answer has to be: “NO!” Who had even heard of Christmas Falls in Berbice?

But there have been other questions even before Lusignan — questions of the citizenry to their Government. From general ones such as, “What was really behind the violence on the East Coast?” to specific ones like, “What happened to the SWAT unit to confront the high powered violence, which had been promised since 2002?”

The questions, unfortunately, have been ignored, and with additional ones that pop up in the wake of every new tragedy, they loom like a dark cloud over the land.

After Lusignan, Government officials, in General Powell-like language, promised that a unit of the Joint Services had been constituted, which would pursue the bandits, corner them and take them out.

But then came Bartica and the reaction of the unit, if it were that which had been deployed, left much to be desired. It was obvious that they did not have even the communications and coordination capabilities to deploy local units around Bartica to cut off the bandits’ escape routes.

Even after a camp had been discovered in the Linden area, residents consistently complained that the intelligence assets of the Forces did not maintain a sustained presence in the area that could have uncovered more vital information.

The Government duly informed us that the Forces needed helicopters to augment their surveillance capabilities in situations such as Bartica, where the helicopters could have presumably been put into “hot pursuit” of the fleeing bandits.

Two helicopters were duly procured in a manner that raised a host of new questions, which will not be broached here. The latest operation to surround and capture (presumably) some of the bandits, after intelligence was gleaned of their hideout near Christmas Falls, has raised even more pressing questions.

From all indications, it appears that this was a “Police only” operation. What happened to the special unit of the Joint Services that had been selected, trained and outfitted for this specialised task?

If the authorities had intelligence on the location and possibly the strength of the bandits, can the public be blamed for assuming that, based on the fact that most of the bandits escaped the ambush, there was something drastically wrong with the planning and execution of the operation? In addition to the putative Special Unit that has been established, the GDF has traditionally maintained a unit that is specialised in jungle operations.

Has this unit, of which Blackie had famously been a member, been disbanded? In the absence of clear responses from the authorities, speculation is rife in the population of a possible rift between the Police and the army.

While one may protest that this sort of information may empower the bandits, it has become obvious that the intelligence gathering capabilities of the bandits far exceed those of our Forces and they would be aware of such disconnects. The ordinary folk, on the other hand, would like to be reassured.

Then there is the matter of the pursuit of the fleeing bandits from Christmas Falls. There have been unrelenting rumours that one of the helicopters procured for this self-same task is down, thereby cutting our air-pursuit capabilities in half.

In view of the controversy generated in the wake of purchasing the crime fighting helicopters, the authorities may be a tad hesitant to release this titbit of information.

However, the public does have the right to know, since, after all, it was their money that was spent.
There are now so many questions in the minds of the public on the crime wave that they can no longer be swept under the carpet. Guyana needs answers.

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