GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) -- Guyana's army chief Tuesday
                  denounced as "wild and irresponsible" accusations in the governing party's
                  newspaper that the military is plotting a coup against the president.

                  The Mirror newspaper of the People's Progressive Party suggested in an
                  editorial Sunday that the military may try to topple President Janet Jagan and
                  hand control of the government to the rival People's National Congress in
                  order to quell labor unrest.

                  Maj. Gen. Joseph G. Singh, chief of the Guyana Defense Force, called the
                  charges baseless. The army, formed in 1965, has no history of involvement
                  in Guyanese politics.

                  "Unless the writer of the Sunday Mirror's editorial can produce proof of any
                  action which has changed this apolitical and professional stance by the
                  security forces and which has given rise to the editorial's warped hypothesis,
                  then he or she should desist from making wild and irresponsible statements,"
                  Singh said in a written statement.

                    Copyright 1999 The Associated Press.