Former Suriname premier Arron dies on Dutch visit

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (Reuters) -- Former Suriname prime minister and independence leader Henck Arron died on Monday while visiting the Netherlands, the Surinamese Embassy said on Tuesday.

The 64-year old Arron, who had heart problems, died in his sleep on Monday during a visit to commemorate the former Dutch colony's 25th anniversary of independence, Peter de Meel, a researcher who was working with Arron told Reuters.

As a prime minister for the creole party NPS, Arron backed severing Dutch ties and became the country's first premier after it gained its independence in 1975.

In 1980, Arron and his government were ousted in a military coup by strongman Desi Bouterse, who was ordered in November to stand trial in the Netherlands for his part in the torture and murder of 15 government opponents in 1982. Bouterse held power for seven years and put Arron in jail for two years.

After democratic government was re-installed in 1987, Arron became politically active again, most notably as vice president.

Suriname, with an estimated population of some 400,000 people and another 300,000 or so living in the Netherlands, was the most recent of Dutch colonies to obtain independence.

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