[PEN-L:7442] Suriname

["rc-am" <rcollins@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

anyone know anything about suriname?  - Angela
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Suriname Leader Faces Continuing Street Protests
12:15 a.m. May 28, 1999

PARAMARIBO, Suriname (Reuters) - Thousands of anti- government protesters
marched through the Surinamese capital Thursday as embattled President Jules
Wijdenbosch faced mounting calls for his resignation amid a deepening
economic crisis.

The crowd of about 20,000 people banged pots, pans and empty oil cans and
shouted slogans calling for Bosje, as Wijdenbosch is called, to step down.
Police, who fired warning shots and tear gas during similar protests over the
past week, did not intervene and no incidents were reported.  The former
Dutch colony on the northern shoulder of South America has been rocked for a
week by anti-government protests over steep price rises and a plunging local
currency.  The protests have brought the sparsely populated country virtually
to a standstill with most shops, gasoline stations and schools closed and
many civil servants on strike.  Wijdenbosch, who took office in September
1996 for five years, has resisted calls for his resignation and political and
diplomatic sources said he might declare a state of emergency.  ``If the
president wants to declare the state of emergency ... he has to explain why
it is necessary,'' former president Ronald Venetiaan said during Thursday's
march.   A state of emergency would allow the president to rule by decree
with a suspension of most civil liberties.  Foreign Minister Errol Snijders
hinted at the prospect when, according to diplomatic sources, he told members
of the diplomatic corps Wednesday that the government would take ``any
constitutional measures necessary to maintain public order.'' Suriname, a
multiethnic country of 400,000, has seen its economy hit by poor prices for
key exports like bauxite, shrimps, bananas and gold.   While Wijdenbosch
blames these external factors and heavy foreign currency demand by drug
traffickers for the current crisis, local economists argue the economy has
been mismanaged.