The leaders of last week’s military coup in Sao Tome and Principe are ready to return power to the elected government, Cape Verde Prime Minister Jose Maria Neves said on Monday.
”We can almost say that democracy is on its way to be restored,” he told reporters after meeting South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma in Pretoria.
Neves is on a four-day official visit in South Africa.
His country forms part of a group of Portuguese-speaking and African countries seeking to mediate a return to legality in Sao Tome.
Army rebels seized power of the tiny nation in west Africa’s Gulf of Guinea last week while President Fradique de Menezes was in Nigeria.
They arrested a number of cabinet ministers who have since been released to be placed under military surveillance at their homes.
The bloodless coup has been strongly condemned by the African Union, which vowed not to recognise the new regime.
Sao Tome’s military junta and the mediators were to resume talks on Monday.
Neves reported that the junta leaders showed ”great openness to dialogue”. This was underlined by their agreement to free the detained Sao Tome leaders.
”They also wish to give power back to the democratic institutions that exist.”
Events after the coup showed how useful the AU could be. Its immediate condemnation of the coup and efforts to resolve the crisis would help deter actions of this kind, Neves said. – Sapa