With a host of influential foreign leaders lined up against him, the leader of a military coup in this tiny West African nation gave assurances that he has no plans to rule the oil-rich country.
International pressure mounted on Major Fernando Pereira to negotiate a peaceful settlement to the crisis with the elected officials he ousted in a coup on Wednesday.
Pereira, a 46-year-old artillery officer, said Thursday that he intended to allow elections.
"We achieved our objective by taking over," he told Portuguese state radio Radiodifusao Portuguesa. "Now we have to set up a provisional government and ... create the conditions for free elections. We don't want power," he said.
Diplomats from the US and Portugal, the country's former colonial ruler, sought to mediate between the rebellious troops and the deposed government.
Sao Tome lies in the Gulf of Guinea, in West Africa, a region of growing importance to the US and other nations as a source for oil.
The tiny island nation, with a population of about 140,000, has sought help from the US in recent years for offshore oil exploration.
President Fradique de Menezes was in Nigeria with President Olusegun Obasanjo when the coup occurred. The rebellious troops detained members of the government, who were still being held at an army barracks Thursday.
Nigeria -- which has a deal to share huge offshore oil reserves with Sao Tome -- was due to send an envoy Thursday to meet with the rebellious troops but by nightfall the envoy had not arrived and the airport was closed.
Remi Oyo, spokeswoman to Obasanjo, declined to comment on whether a Nigerian delegation would be heading to Sao Tome, saying only that "something is being worked out."
South African President Thabo Mbeki said diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis must be maintained.
"I'm hoping that we can, all of us, apply enough pressure on these soldiers to make sure that we reverse this and re-establish the democratically elected government of Sao Tome," Mbeki said.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan strongly condemned the coup while Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano, who currently heads the 53-nation African Union, appealed for a peaceful solution.
Chissano was expected to hold talks Thursday in Abuja, Nigeria, with Menezes and Obasanjo about the possibility of sending a team of diplomats to Sao Tome.
The Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries, or CPLP, said it was willing to send representatives to join a mission trying to find a solution to the crisis, Brazil's Foreign Ministry said Thursday.
The CPLP condemned the coup and demanded an immediate return to a normal functioning of democratic institutions. Sao Tome is a member of the CPLP, which had a meeting of foreign ministers in Coimbra, Portugal, on Thursday and yesterday. Other CPLP members are Brazil, Portugal, Angola, Mozambique and Guinea Bissau.
In Sao Tome, troops could be seen deploying artillery around the closed airport, apparently in fear of military intervention from abroad.
Sao Tome is one of Africa's smallest and poorest countries, with average income of about US$24 per month, according to the World Bank.
The World Bank and International Monetary Fund three years ago granted Sao Tome US$200 million in debt relief.
Calisto Madavo, the World Bank vice president for Africa, indicated on Thursday that the aid would be halted unless the international community recognizes the new government.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of