The Police have made a $30M offer for information leading to arrest of the country’s most wanted man - Rondell ‘Fine Man’ Rawlins, while not saying directly that he was connected to the slayings.
The
Joint Services are advising members of the public to be extra vigilant
at this time and urged that they report any suspicious or strange
activity which they may observe in their communities. The
Joint Services are also calling on all members of the society to
“remain calm in the face of adversity and stability will return to
the society.” Rawlins
is believed to be behind Saturday night’s attack on Police
headquarters at Eve Leary, which left two junior Police officers
wounded. Apart from numerous murders, he is also wanted for the assassination
of Minister of Agriculture Satyadeow Sawh,
who was slain with two of his siblings in April, 2006. President
Jagdeo declared at a press briefing that the criminals who stormed the
Lusignan homes came from Buxton, long believed to be a safe haven for
armed, dangerous criminals. The
incident is being described as the worst mass slaying in Guyana’s
recent history, and as news spread, it occupied the main headlines of
the world’s leading news agencies. President
Jagdeo, political leaders and religious leaders urged for calm, over
fears that the killings were of the magnitude to spark ethnic tension.
Last evening, religious leaders took to East Coast communities with
loudspeakers appealing for restraint. The
gunmen took control of “Track A” Lusignan, some 10 miles east of
the capital Georgetown, at about 2:00 h, and maintained rapid gunfire
for about 20 minutes during which they stormed five homes and killed
11 persons, including five children. Dead
are: Claren Thomas, 48; Vanessa Thomas 12; Ron Thomas, 11; Mohandan
Goordat, 32; Seegopaul Harilall, 10; Seegobin Harilall,4; Dhanwajie
Ramsingh,52; Seecharran Rooplall, 56; Raywattie Ramsingh, 11; Shazam
Mohammed, 22; Shaleem Baksh, 52. As
the families of those dead mourned, residents on the East Coast of
Demerara, erupted in anger, and President Jagdeo dispatched Prime
Minister Samuel Hinds and government ministers to try to ease flaring
tension. President
Bharrat Jagdeo himself visited with the families of those killed, and
he also visited other uneasy communities. know
that there is a tremendous amount of fear on the East Coast and that
we need to alleviate the fear that these communities have,”
President Jagdeo said as he announced that the security forces would
“dominate” the East Coast. need
to mobilise; it may take a bit of time to do so because they have to
bring people in line, the policemen, and soldiers have to be brought
from other bases. I expect by the end of the day that we will see a
visible presence of the security forces on the East Coast, in the
communities,” President Jagdeo said. Starting
from Mon Repos, just a mile off Lusignan, residents offloaded a
truckload of sand at the railway embankment, and tyres were set
alight, preventing traffic from flowing either way. On the main road,
residents placed pile upon pile of debris and set it alight, forcing
those who desperately wanted to pass to use the rail of the bridge. A
pensioner couple, with fear in their eyes, dared to make the crossing,
while a Hindu priest leading a funeral procession to perform a
cremation expressed frustration at being unable to pass freely. Thick
black smoked engulfed communities further down, as similar acts of
protest rippled through. Markets at Annandale and Mon Repos, which
usually draw hundreds on Saturdays, were deserted. In
the afternoon, stores in Georgetown closed early as the incident
spread fear across the country. Just
before sunset, Police prevented the situation from escalating to Cove
and John, six miles east of Lusignan. The
Joint Services issued a statement calling for those who had no
essential business to avoid the Lusignan/Annandale corridor. The
international community expressed solidarity with Guyana and said they
were confident that the country would rise out of this challenge. The
United States Ambassador, and High Commissioners of the United
Kingdom, Canada and the European Union said the killings were
“brutal”. The
Opposition Leader, Mr. Robert Corbin, appealed for calm too and urged
that the situation not descend into ethnic mayhem. President
Jagdeo said only “sick, demented cowards” could kill children and
appealed for calm.
This
is how President Bharrat Jagdeo described the gunmen who shot dead 11
persons, including five children, at Lusignan on the East Coast
Demerara, during the early hours of yesterday morning. Execution
is clearly the motive, and this was intended to spread terror on the
East Coast, the President told a press briefing at State House
yesterday morning. He
urged that people remain calm and support the Joint Services as they
work to bring the murderers to justice. He
spoke of mobilisation of the army and police, with heightened static
and mobile presence, as “we have to dissipate the fear “ among the
people. He
said it seemed that the Lusignan rampage could have been designed to
draw attention from investigations into weapons that had been issued
to the National Development Ministry in the 70’s, and which were
never returned to the Army, and which later found themselves in the
hands of criminals. The
President also spoke of the drive-by attack by gunmen at Police
Headquarters, Eve Leary, around 23 hrs Friday night, as a tactic to
divert security personnel from the later attack on Lusignan residents. President
Jagdeo indicated that the State intends to take severe action against
persons in illegal possession of firearms and are using them to
conduct criminal activities, as was the case in Lusignan. “If
you have people in a society who are not vested with the authority of
the State,… they should not bear arms unless they are permitted to
do so; and they should not use those arms illegally acquired for any
criminal act against the State.” The
President said the State has no choice but to engage in whatever
warfare is necessary to get to the killers. He
said there was some significant fear among the people and the
administration has to be careful at the national level that this is
expelled, as it could be exploited by the criminals and others to
spread ethnic tension. “And
I want to urge every Guyanese that the act of a few criminals is not
interpreted in any way along ethnic lines,” President Jagdeo said. Sunday,
January 27, 2008
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