Sao Tome rebels SADF trained

2003-07-16 22:29

Erika Gibson

Pretoria - The leaders of a group of officers who staged a coup on Wednesday in Sao Tome and Principe in West Africa were apparently trained years ago by South Africa's notorious 32 Battalion.

Soldiers took over the tiny island group off Gabon on the West African coast early on Wednesday. They took over control of the local radio and TV station and the international bank.

The country's foreign minister Mateus Meira said the officers were connected to an opposition party without parliamentary representation.

He added they were "part of a battalion of soldiers who received training in South Africa".

A group of about 150 refugees from Sao Tome and Principe arrived in Walvis Bay during the border war in the eighties.

Among them were intellectuals and politicians who had already undergone military training. Military sources say the entire group was absorbed into 32 Battalion.

They performed so well they were later admitted to the Special Forces. A number of the soldiers even became officers.

Eventually they apparently left the defence force and returned to Sao Tome and Principe. At the time some of them joined the now disbanded Executive Outcomes.

The coup is connected to the islands' recent discovery of huge offshore oil reserves.

Institute for Security Studies analyst Joao Porto said for years the islanders had eked out a precarious existence from cocoa. Now they expected the country to become rich.

The Sao Tome defence force, which consists of 900 soldiers, expects better equipment and pay.

Portuguese delegates negotiated with the officers on Wednesday, and Angola, which traditionally has close ties with the islands, is also expected to offer mediation to defuse the crisis.

- News24