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Guyana minister shot and killed at home
by Bert Wilkinson

The Associated Press Translate This Article
23 April 2006

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) - Gunmen burst into the home of Guyana's agriculture minister early Saturday and fatally shot him along with two relatives and a security guard, authorities said.

A government spokesman said it appeared to be a political assassination. Police said robbery was a possible motive, and they were also investigating whether drug trafficking or criminal gangs were involved.

Satyadeo Sawh was killed after his family members met the assailants' demands for jewelry and money—giving them $120, his wife said. She was speaking hours after the attack at her house, about six miles east of the capital, Georgetown.

``They still turned around and shot them,'' said Sattie Sawh. She said she had survived by hiding in the coastal home.

Satyadeo Sawh's body was found lying in a hammock, his wife said.

Neighbors and witnesses said there were about seven gunmen dressed in black clothing. They apparently used rifles. Authorities believe the assailants waited outside the house and forced their way inside after the minister and his family arrived.

Dogs were searching sugar cane fields around the house where the gunmen were believed to have hidden before the attack, and where they may have fled to afterward, Police Chief Winston Felix said.

Sawh, 50, was a naturalized Canadian citizen who returned to Guyana in the early 1990s and joined the successful campaign of the People's Progressive Party, which came to power in 1992. He was named a Cabinet minister that year.

Sawh, who has two adult sons, also served as Guyana's ambassador to Venezuela.

The slayings came amid a rise in violent crime and political uncertainty over upcoming elections in this former British colony of about 767,000 people on the northern coast of South America between Venezuela and Suriname.

The government held an emergency Cabinet meeting Saturday and issued a statement saying it believed the killing was an attempt to destabilize the country before the elections. It did not elaborate.

``It smacks of a political assassination but the motive is still to be determined,'' government spokesman Robert Persaud said.

The elections, scheduled for Aug. 4, were recently postponed to give authorities more time to prepare. A new date has not been set.

President Bharrat Jagdeo urged police to find the killers and asked the public to remain calm.

``We need to send a signal to the murderers and those who directed them that we will not be defeated and the nation will emerge stronger,'' he said in a speech broadcast Saturday night on television and radio.

Police were stepping up security for Cabinet ministers and other high-profile figures.

Also slain in the attack were Sawh's sister, Phulmattie Persaud, his brother, Rajpatrai Sawh, and a security guard. Sawh's siblings were visiting from Canada.

Another of Sawh's brothers was briefly hospitalized for a gunshot wound, said Sattie Sawh. At least one other person, a neighbor's security guard, was also wounded, police said.

Authorities blame the increase in crime on the growing drug trade and gun smuggling. Drug trafficking accounts for an estimated 20 percent of Guyana's gross domestic product, according to the U.S. State Department.

Police are investigating about 50 killings since January.

The government said it planned to seek help from foreign security agencies, but did not elaborate.

Copyright © 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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