President Bharrat Jagdeo has invited representatives of the private sector, labour movement, inter-religious organizations and leaders of the parliamentary parties to a meeting today to discuss the current security situation.

This meeting comes in the wake of the brutal slaughter of a dozen people at Bartica on Sunday night and after calls by civil society and the parliamentary opposition for public discourse on the country’s security situation.

The meeting will also take place against the background of the government’s opposition to a motion in Parliament put forward by PNCR Leader Robert Corbin, to discuss and condemn the killing of 11 residents of Lusignan and a soldier at Buxton late last month.

President Jagdeo, who was out of the country at the time of the Bartica incident, had also refused to meet with the Leader of the Opposition to discuss the security issue following the Lusignan murders.

Meanwhile the PPP (See page 2), the PNCR, and AFC and GAP, have condemned the most recent brutal assault on the community at Bartica; have offered condolences to the relatives of those who perished; and speedy recovery and a return to full health of those who were injured.

The PNCR statement issued yesterday said the present situation demands a strategic policy formulation and the development of a suitable programme for its implementation.

And at the level of policy formulation, the PNCR said, an approach that includes all political parties, civil society and other stakeholders was needed and at the level of programme implementation, there was the need for a professional approach on the part of the Joint Services to tackle the security problems, in the context of an enlightened military-civil relationship.

The party said it was evident that the security forces should mobilise support from all communities to aid their crime fighting efforts.

It urged the government to immediately establish a well trained and specialised professional SWAT squad, as a unit of the Guyana Police Force, to deal with the demands of the current security situation, as promised in June 2006. The party said there was clearly a need for additional assistance to help the government fulfil its constitutional mandate to ensure the security and protection of all.

The PNCR said it was convinced that the attack on Bartica was a clear indication that the security situation in Guyana has rapidly deteriorated and there was need for a definite and comprehensive plan of action to arrest the current security situation.

The party added that it hoped the government will treat this situation as a matter of national emergency and seek to achieve a national consensus on crime and security in Guyana.

And in a joint statement, the AFC and GAP reiterated their call on the government to bring before the nation a national security strategy to address what is obviously an unorthodox and unusual security situation. They said that the Security Sector Reform Plan (SSRP) to which the government refers to as ‘The Plan,’ is but one part of a national security strategy.

The parties said the slaughter of innocent Guyanese at Lusignan and now at Bartica was indicative of the emergence of a group or groups with the capacity and capabilities to challenge the authority of the state.

They said that what was clear with this most recent horrific incident was that the government or the security services have put nothing in place to effectively prevent the occurrence of such acts.

“What is even more alarming is that these attacks on innocent Guyanese could occur again with such facility and without interruption,” the parties said. They said it was “clear that the country’s intelligence gathering capabilities and agencies have been outfoxed, out-manoeuvred and outgunned as in the last three weeks no arrests or significant inroads into the gang or gangs have been made by the security forces