Rebel leaders ended a weeklong bloodless coup in impoverished São Tomé and PrÃncipe after the president signed an accord promising to replace the government and give them amnesty.
President Fradique de Menezes returned to the West African nation on Wednesday accompanied by Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, whose nation has an arrangement to share huge offshore oil reserves with São Tomé.
Under the deal reached with the coup leaders, who rose up on July 16, Menezes will remain president alongside a new government. The deal includes guarantees that Menezes, who has fired four prime ministers and dissolved Parliament once since his five-year term began in September 2001, will respect his nation’s separation of powers.
The coup leader, Major Fernando Pereira, said the military could rebel again if the government violates the agreement. ‘In a context where development is hampered by corruption, with directionless rulers and state institutions, the army can’t be still because that goes against the destiny of our people,” Pereira said after signing the agreement.
Pereira took power citing a continued social and economic decline in this oil-rich but poor country in the Gulf of Guinea.
The United States, the United Nations, the 53-nation African Union and others demanded that the government be restored in the former Portuguese colony. Some countries and the World Bank threatened the rebels with diplomatic isolation and cuts in aid.
The coup leaders detained seven government ministers at military installations before releasing them last Sunday. All are at their homes, under military guard.
Prime Minister Maria das Neves has been hospitalised under military surveillance since the coup after collapsing following her arrest. She is being treated for high blood pressure.
In the streets, people said they were pleased with the fast return of the government. — Sapa-AP