Coup leaders get amnesty

2003-07-24 21:09

Sao Tome - A newfound calm reigned in Sao Tome and Principe Thursday, a day after the president of the west African archipelago returned home and the coup leaders who had deposed him last week were granted an amnesty.

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who had accompanied Fradique de Menezes upon his return to Sao Tome, hailed the peace deal reached late on Wednesday as a "victory for Africa".

"We had a bad situation in hand, and thanks to the efforts of regional leaders, we were able to deal with it," he said.

De Menezes was deposed in a bloodless coup on July 16 by a group of putschists led by army major Fernando Pereira, which included a notorious band of former soldiers who served in South Africa's apartheid-era armed forces.

The nation of just 140 000 people in the Gulf of Guinea suffers from widespread poverty but has large potential oil resources that have stirred international interest, as well as local fears about how the future wealth will be shared out.

Many inhabitants had voiced hope that the coup would result in an improvement in living standards in the former Portuguese colony, where the average income currently stands at around $280 a year.

New government

After three days of intensive negotiations brokered by officials from African and Portuguese-speaking countries, the coup leaders agreed on Wednesday to restore constitutional order to the islands, and to allow de Menezes's return.

In addition to their amnesty, voted into law by parliament on Wednesday night, the rebels also exacted concessions from Sao Tome's government on greater transparency and powersharing.

The deal provides for the creation of a new government of national unity.

As part of a pledge for "transparent management of public resources and the respect of financial rules", the oil industry is to be placed under the authority of the National Assembly.

"The victory is not the victory of the president or of the soldiers," said Obasanjo. "It is a victory for the people of Sao Tome, the people of the region and neighbouring countries, a victory for Africa."

Nigeria is west Africa's military and economic powerhouse and has close links with Sao Tome, with which it is developing a potentially rich joint offshore oil exploration block.

But doubts remained in some quarters over whether the accord would prove tenable and satisfy de Menezes's critics.

Despite its broad outlines, "lots of points were not resolved" in the deal, said a political source with ties to both the coup leaders and the putschists.

"Negotiations were going well, but at the last moment things went too quickly. This could lead to recurring crises."

The source pointed in particular to the amnesty for the putschists as being approved "against the desires" of parliament, and said there was no resolution on whether prime minister Maria des Neves' controversial government would also return to power alongside the president.

Coup plotters demanded SA's attendance

De Menezes was to give a speech to the nation later on Thursday.

The breakthrough agreement that ended the week-long stand-off was brokered by a 30-strong mediation team led by Congolese Foreign Minister Rodolphe Adada.

He and Gabonese Foreign Minister Jean Ping were joined in talks by officials from Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Mozambique, Nigeria and Portugal - as well as the United States.

South African negotiators had also joined the mediation efforts on Tuesday, reportedly at the insistence of 16 of the coup plotters, former members of South Africa's apartheid-era armed forces who complain they have been ostrasised ever since their return to their native Sao Tome.

The so-called mercenaries once belonged to the feared South African 32 Battalion, nicknamed the "Buffalo Battalion".

Made up of recruits from Angola and other Portuguese-speaking African states, the unit was used by South Africa's apartheid regime for "counter-insurgency" operations against groups like the African National Congress, which went on to win the country's first democratic elections in 1994.

Wednesday's deal calls for "a solution to the problems of the former Buffalo Battalion" and "measures allowing the reinsertion into national life."

- AFX