PRESIDENT BHARRAT Jagdeo has swiftly and appropriately done what was expected of Guyana’s Head of State: join leaders of the international community in forcefully and unequivocally condemning the mindless slaughter on Friday of at least 91 Norwegians, most of them teenagers, in two incidents of politically motivated  terrorist attacks.
Guyana’s special relationship with the Kingdom of Norway would have been strengthened by the major forest protection project signed between the two states in their shared commitment to battle the consequences of the climate change phenomenon.
But the long and much deep admiration for the commitment of Norway, under successive administrations in Oslo, to the fostering of international peace and promotion of human rights and dignity would clearly transcend any partnership accord for social and economic development between Guyana and that European nation with a proud history in the promotion of human development.
As the government and people of Norway mourn the many lives lost at a youth camp, and agonise over the accompanying destruction that resulted from bombing incidents in their capital city, they need to know that the people of Guyana also collectively share their pain, and embrace the condolences extended by this nation’s Head of State.
In his transmitted message of condolence to the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Norway, Jens Stoltenberg,  President Jagdeo reiterated Guyana’s “condemnation of the perpetration of terrorist acts, and supports the efforts of the Government of Norway in bringing to justice the terrorists responsible for those atrocities…”
Evidently a perpetrator of hate crime, a 32-year-old Norwegian gunman has been charged with both the massacre at the youth camp on the island of Otoeya (most of the estimated 85 victims were between the ages of 14 and 18) as well as the bombings in Oslo.
*(See Page 4 for the latest reports from Oslo on this mindboggling human tragedy)