> 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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