Coup leaders on the West African islands of Sao Tome and Principe released senior government officials late on Sunday, paving the way for an end to the bloodless military takeover.
After almost 10 hours of negotiations with international mediators who jetted into the tiny island nation over the weekend, the junta announced it would free around half a dozen ministers and officials held at army barracks since Wednesday's coup.
"This is an important sign of our credibility in negotiating a solution to the crisis," coup leader Major Fernando Pereira said after the military commission and foreign envoys drove out to the barracks at the end of talks.
Bleary-eyed officials, including Oil Minister Joaquim Rafael Branco, hugged each other at the end of their five-day ordeal and shook hands with the mediators.
Diplomats said the release would set the stage for the return of President Fradique de Menezes, who was in Nigeria when soldiers took over the tiny twin islands in a pre-dawn putsch.
"It's probably just a matter of days now, but these guys are going to want to take it one step at a time and this was a big enough step for the moment," said one foreign official.
Negotiations were due to resume yesterday morning.
The release was part of a five-point agreement signed by the junta and mediators representing eight countries, including regional heavyweight Nigeria and the US who are pushing for a resolution to the crisis in the potentially oil-rich Atlantic state.
A dozen or so ministers were arrested on Wednesday when soldiers took control of one of Africa's smallest states. About six of those were later released.
The volcanic islands off the coast of West Africa have just 170,000 inhabitants.
Under the agreement signed late on Sunday, the officials will remain in their homes under military protection and will not exercise any government functions until the end of negotiations.
"Now we can continue our work in a more serene environment, moving onto the next points on the agenda," said the Congo Republic's Foreign Minister Rodolphe Adada, coordinator of the group of mediators.
Coup plotters have said they wanted a new government formed to end poverty on the islands, which dream of oil wealth from potentially large offshore crude reserves along their maritime border with Nigeria.
Diplomats said a possible compromise would be for de Menezes to dissolve parliament and call elections, creating a new government by constitutional means.
Angolan mediators negotiated an end to a week-long coup in Sao Tome in 1995, persuading the soldiers to return to their barracks after that takeover.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese