LISBON, 17 July 2003 — The leaders of a military coup in Sao Tome and Principe yesterday announced the dissolution of all state bodies and set up a “junta of national salvation”, Portuguese television reported, citing state radio in the west African island nation.
The coup was launched before dawn yesterday in the tiny west African island, where former colonial power Portugal was seeking to mediate in the crisis.
Portugal’s ambassador to Sao Tome, Mario de Jesus Santos, was to meet with the coup-makers at 11:30 a.m. (1130 GMT), Foreign Minister Antonio Martins da Cruz told reporters in Lisbon. The apparently bloodless putsch was launched while President Fradique Bandeira de Menezes was in Nigeria on a private visit, officials and residents reached by telephone said.
Portuguese news agency Lusa reported from Sao Tome that Prime Minister Maria das Neves, Defense Minister Fernando Danqua and Parliament Speaker Dionisio Dias had all been detained in the coup.
A journalist in Sao Tome for Portuguese media told AFP in the capital of nearby Gabon that the prime minister had suffered a mild heart attack following a shoot-out at her home, and was taken to hospital.
Earlier, a witness told AFP the prime minister and the ministers of public works, planning, defense and finance were being held in military barracks.
Speaking to Portuguese state radio, Lisbon’s Ambassador De Jesus Santos said earlier: “Certain key points in the city have been captured and members of the government have been detained, but the situation is relatively calm. Currently there are no shots and no violence. “We heard sporadic shots when the detentions happened... but we don’t know of any physical confrontations,” he added.
By mid-morning, people had ventured back out into the streets of the capital, a journalist for Portuguese broadcaster RTP told AFP, adding that soldiers were guarding strategic points including the state radio and television facility and the central bank.
