A documentary abut Guyana to be aired in the United Kingdom today paints a grim picture of a country beset by ethnic strife and economic decline.

"Bitter Harvest" was produced by cameraman Paul Kittel and reporter Zaiba Malik during two weeks they spent in Guyana just before Christmas. They spoke to officials at Guysuco and government ministers including President Jagdeo while on walkabout. They also witnessed the funeral of a suspected criminal and visited Buxton.

Outlining the documentary the Channel 4 web site states: "Nobody knows the exact death toll in Guyana. Official statistics are hard to come by, but with almost every day comes news of another bloody killing in the small country on South America's Caribbean coast.

For years Guyana has been a country on the edge, racked by political turmoil, but now an ailing economy is fuelling ethnic violence, gang warfare and killings that the Guyanese call 'street justice.'

"The former British colony (is), one of the poorest countries in the western hemisphere,...a land divided by racial tension between the African and Indian populations. Each claims they are the victims of economic and political discrimination.

"The tension has now escalated into murder, and the security situation looks likely to deteriorate as the country's biggest employer, the nationalised sugar industry, comes under threat.

"With a population of less than 750,000, Guyana can ill-afford the social and economic cost of an additional 5,000 unemployed."