Sao Tome: Leader stands firm

2003-07-22 09:19

Sao Tome - While coup leaders and international mediators were set to continue talks on Tuesday, the deposed president of the west African archipelago insisted the coup leaders return to barracks before he negotiated with them.

Monday's talks between a 30-strong mediation team and army rebels led by Major Fernando Pereira took place amid signs of progress, after the late-night release of seven ministers and a legal adviser, held since last week's coup.

The officials were freed after Pereira and the head mediator, Congolese foreign minister Rodolphe Adada, agreed that they would be placed under military surveillance at their homes - as were three women ministers freed earlier - and barred from trying to "exert any pressure" on negotiations.

The mediator and the junta both hailed the officials' release as a breakthrough that would help pave a way out of the crisis.

Deposed president Fradique de Menezes welcomed the move, but still felt those responsible for last Wednesday's power grab had not yet fulfilled all the conditions necessary for his return.

Guillaume Neto, media adviser to the ousted leader who has been stranded in the Nigerian capital of Abuja, said the release of government figures had been one of the preconditions for his return.

Under auspices of African Union

"The conditions for his return are that prisoners are liberated, the military return to their barracks and that constitutional order be restored," Neto said from De Menezes' Abuja hotel.

"Once those conditions are met, the president can return and discuss the military's concerns," he said.

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo held talks with the ousted leader on Monday in Abuja, during which he emphasised that Nigeria was working in concert with the international mediators in Sao Tome.

Meanwhile, Pereira's putschists and the mediation team from several Portuguese-speaking and African countries, as well as the United States, met at United Nations offices in the capital of the impoverished archipelago in the Gulf of Guinea.

The negotiators represent eight countries - Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Congo, Gabon, Mozambique, Nigeria and Portugal.

The talks are also being held under the auspices of the African Union, which has expressed its determination to end military takeovers and civil wars in Africa.

The rebel delegation has included seven military and three members of the Christian Democratic Front (FDC), which is not represented in parliament.

FDC head Arlesio Costa, not an army member, also attended the talks wearing military fatigues. Political sources have said Costa was the real coup leader.

The Gabon-based US ambassador to Sao Tome, Kenneth Moorefield, who was in Sao Tome when the coup took place, remained and was also taking part in international mediation efforts.

In Washington, the United States welcomed the ministers' release, but called for full restoration of the elected government.

Many sceptical about talks

"We continue to urge a peaceful, nonviolent resolution in Sao Tome, including allowing the elected government to continue to function," said deputy state department spokesperson Philip Reeker.

Speaking in South Africa, the prime minister of Cape Verde, José Maria Neves, said in Pretoria that democracy was on the way to being restored in Sao Tome.

The coup leaders "have freed the people they imprisoned at the time of the coup. They have said they want to return power to the democratic institutions."

"One can almost say that democracy is on its way to being restored in Sao Tome and Principe," he said.

Despite De Menezes's isolation in neighbouring Nigeria, he was seen by several diplomats taking part in the Sao Tome talks as being the best choice for the leadership of the impoverished island nation.

But others in Sao Tome were sceptical, and one source scoffed at the talks, calling them a "masquerade".

"This mediation isn't getting to the heart of things, and the problems will only begin again... Fradique (de Menezes) is the real problem in Sao Tome," said the source.

Junta leader Pereira, known by the nickname "Cobo", described the coup last week as "an SOS to the international community" about rampant corruption on the tiny islands that are home to 140 000 people.

Many residents of Sao Tome voiced hope the coup would result in an improvement in their quality of life, where the average annual income is about 280 dollars.

The archipelago is burdened by one of the highest per capita debt ratios in the world and is heavily dependent on foreign aid, although it is banking on future revenues from substantial offshore oil reserves.

- AFX