A coup happened today in the West African island nation of São Tomé and Príncipe. Army rebels in the tiny West African island state of Sao Tome and Principe have declared a "junta of national salvation" after toppling the government, saying they were responding to the country's "decline"in the former Portuguese colony on the Equator in the Gulf of Guinea.
The rebels took control of government buildings, state TV and radio, the central bank and the airport.
A man in civilian dress surrounded by armed soldiers read out the announcement on state television hours after the dawn coup, which appears to have been largely bloodless.
The rebels said in their statement that they had dissolved all national institutions and would shortly form a government for an unspecified "transition period".
Having seized the prime minister and other key officials, they pledged not to harm any members of the deposed government.
Exxon Mobil of Irving, Tex., the world's largest oil company, and Chrome Energy, a small Houston-based oil and gas company controlled by Nigerian investors, have secured options for oil exploration in the waters off São Tomé, an area just south of oil-rich Nigeria that geologists estimate could hold up to six billion barrels of reserves.
ChevronTexaco, Royal Dutch/Shell and TotalFinaElf are among the other big oil companies that have shown interest in bidding for licenses to explore other areas in auctions scheduled for October. This interest has sent expectations soaring in São Tomé and Príncipe, a two-island country of 1,000 square miles and 160,000 people where the main export crop is cocoa and the average annual income is $280.
Still, most cabinet members, including the oil minister, Rafael Branco, were being held captive today, adding to uncertainty over the effect the coup may have on oil exploration.
No oil is expected to be extracted from São Tomé until 2005 or 2006, but the army rebels said they will not treat the existing agreements with american and european companies.
The Portuguese ambassador, Mario de Jesus Santos, said he suspected that control of the oil money is behind the coup.
Portugal's ambassador went into talks with the rebels in a bid to clarify their demands.
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