Tourists trapped on Sao Tome

2003-07-17 17:39

Coimba, Portugal - Portugal said on Thursday it was working to bring home some 80 tourists trapped in Sao Tome and Principe after a military coup rocked the west African island nation and led to the closure of the archipelago's sole airport.

Foreign Minister Antonio Martins da Cruz said half the tourists in the former Portuguese colony were from Portugal while most of the rest were from other European Union nations.

"It is not an easy situation, but we are working towards finding a solution that will allow them to return home," he told reporters on the sidelines of a summit of foreign ministers from Portuguese-speaking nations.

"The situation is not clear, the military have not yet defined what they want," he added.

Portugal and the United States are the only two nations with ambassadors currently in Sao Tome and Principe.

Army officers on the island took control of the airport as well as the presidential palace, the parliament building and state radio and television headquarters in the capital on Wednesday when they launched their pre-dawn coup.

Flights cancelled

Portuguese airline Air Luxor has cancelled a flight that was scheduled to leave Sao Tome for Lisbon on Friday, and Portuguese state airline TAP-Air Portugal has also temporarily cancelled a flight which was scheduled to leave the archipelago on Saturday for Lisbon.

The tiny archipelago was calm overnight, following the bloodless coup, an AFP reporter said.

The coup-makers, led by Major Fernando Pereira and reportedly backed by a small opposition party, had taken advantage of President Fradique de Menezes's absence from the twin-island nation to launch their putsch.

De Menezes was in neighbouring Nigeria for the Sixth Leo Sullivan Summit of influential African and African-American leaders and business people.

Foreign ministers from the eight nations which make up the Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries (CPLP), including Sao Tome's Fernando Meira Rita, began a two-day summit on Thursday in the central Portuguese university town of Coimbra.

Talks at the meeting are expected to focus on the crisis in Sao Tome and Principe, the smallest member of the organization.

The CPLP gruops Portugal and its former colonies Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, East Timor, Guinea-bissau, Mozambique and Sao Tome and Principe.

- AFX