EX-DICTATOR ABSENT IN OWN TRIAL

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) - The long-awaited cocaine trafficking
trial of former Surinam dictator Desi Bouterse started today, but the
defendant and his attorney didn't appear.

Bouterse, an adviser to Surinamese President Jules Wijdenbosch's
ruling coalition, refuses to appear for a trial he calls part of a
Dutch "campaign of aggression" against the former colony.

Bouterse, a former soldier who first grabbed power in the impoverished
South American nation in a 1980 coup, is accused of heading a drug
ring that smuggled 2,967 pounds of cocaine into the Netherlands
between 1989 and 1997.

A special team of Dutch investigators worked for years to prepare
Bouterse's indictment. Under Dutch law, his trial can continue in
absentia even if he doesn't show up.

Bouterse faces a maximum sentence of 16 years' imprisonment if
convicted. The trial is expected to last into June.

The Netherlands and other nations suspended aid to Suriname after 15
of Bouterse's political opponents were killed in 1982, two years after
his coup. He stepped down in 1987 but staged another bloodless coup in
1991.

After his party lost 1996 elections, Bouterse helped forge
Wijdenbosch's governing alliance.