São Tomé and Príncipe, the archipelago renowned for its stability, experienced a coup attempt on the night of Thursday to Friday, November 25th. Four people died, three assailants who stormed the army headquarters and the opponent and former mercenary Arlécio Costa. Prime Minister Patrice Trovoada announced on Friday that he had foiled a coup attempt in this small Portuguese-speaking archipelago, considered a model of parliamentary democracy in Africa.
The Santomean Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, Olinto Paquete, explained that three of the four assailants were killed by an explosion during the assault on the military base. Arlécio Costa led the group, a former Santomean mercenary from the sulfurous South African group "Bataillon Buffalo", dismantled in 1993 by Pretoria.
Saturday evening, the President of ECCAS, Gilberto da Piedade Verissimo and a UN representative in the region, Abdou Abarry, were on site. They condemned the putsch attempt and declared their solidarity with São Tomé.
"For a country of peace and consensus, a coup attempt is not acceptable," said the UN representative in Central Africa, Abdou Barry. The UN has also promised its help in the investigation and consolidation of Santomean democracy. In a statement on the African Union's Twitter account, AU Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat "strongly condemns the coup attempt."
Following several coup attempts, the last in 2003 and 2009, the parliamentary regime asserted itself in this poor archipelago, independent from Portugal since 1975. Two parties took the central place in the country's politics: the Movement of the release of Sao Tome and Principe-Social Democratic Party (MLSTP-PSD, center-left) and Mr. Trovoada's ADI.
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