Surinam coup bid fails
NZPA-Reuter The Hague A group of mercenaries apparently tried to stage a coup in the former Dutch colony of Surinam late last week. But they were cauglr and .their leader was exe-. cuted, a Dutch Foreign Ministry spokesman said yesterday. The abortive bid was reported just over two months after junior army officers' took power x in the South American state. | The spokesman said the' executed leader was d Dutchman, aged 5.6. He didi not know how many other mercenaries were involved or what happened to them after they were intercepted by Surinamese forces as they ■ crossed from, neighr, touring. French Guiana. The Rotterdam evening
; newspaper, “N.R.C. Handi elsblad” reported that 300 mercenaries were in the force, including Belgians who had served in the Congo, Dutchmen, Venezuei lans, and South Moluccans. It said members of the force were discovered at the Surinamese frontier town of Albina on the Marowijne River. The Prime Minister I (Dr Chin A Sen) appointed I in March to head a civilian Government under the supervision of a national military council, was to i broadcast to- the country , later, the paper said. | Its correspondent in the capital, Paramaribo, was detained by Surinamese soldiers at the week-end, inter.rogated and then allowed tc leave for Brazil. The Foreign Ministry I
- spokesman confirmed the; ) paper’s identification of the ’ dead mercenary as Frits s Ormskerk and said he was ; apparently shot. An eight-member military . council took power on Feb- » ruary 25 after a military - coup in which up to 10 i people were killed. The) : Prime Minister (Mr Henk - Arron) who had led the I Government since the bauxi ite-rich country became ■ independent from the NethI erlands in 1975, was ar- > rested. , A month after the coup,; | the council handed overt i some administrative functions! to Dr Chin A. Sen’s Cabi-i net of technocrats and professional people. Elections; i scheduled for late March', were postponed until Octo- ’ I ber, 1981. h
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Press, 7 May 1980, Page 9
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325Surinam coup bid fails Press, 7 May 1980, Page 9
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