The military coup in Sao Tome and Principe will top the agenda when eight foreign ministers of Portuguese-speaking countries gather for their annual meeting here on Thursday.
Sao Tome’s foreign minister, Mateus Meira Rita, was already in Portugal for the meeting when the coup was launched in the west African island state on Wednesday.
The two-day meeting of foreign ministers from the eight-nation Community of Portuguese-speaking Nations (CPLP) was to get under way in this hilly university town in central Portugal at 4pm (1400 GMT).
Options to be considered include military intervention to oust the coup leaders, Portuguese media reported on Thursday, while recalling that mediators from CPLP member state Angola persuaded army officers who ousted the Sao Tome government in 1995 to return to their barracks a week later.
Portugal quickly condemned the coup on Wednesday, as did fellow CPLP member state Mozambique, which is the current head of the 53-member African Union.
The CPLP, which has been deeply divided in the past on issues involving its members such as the Angolan civil war, also joined in the chorus of protest against the coup.
A spokesperson for the organisation said in Lisbon on Thursday that all eight members were in agreement that the military in Sao Tome should allow the government of ousted president Fradique de Menezes to return to power.
Analysts said the crisis was an opportunity for the seven-year-old CPLP, whose member states have a total population of some 220 million, to find a greater role on the world stage.
The CPLP comprises Portugal and its former colonies Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, East Timor, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and Sao Tome and Principe. – Sapa-AFP