Brasília, 7/17/2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - São Tome and Principe, one of the countries that president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is scheduled to visit in August during a swing through Africa, has had its government overthrown by a military uprising. According to the Ministry of Foreign Relations, the presidential stopover there is being reevaluated.

An island nation (two islands, really) of 980 square kilometers, the country has a population of around 100,000, and lies off the western coast of Africa in the Gulf of Guinea.

In an official note, the Brazilian government condemned the occurrence, calling on "the troops in rebellion to immediately cease action so as to permit the prompt reestablishment of constitutional and democratic order." The ministry reports that the small community of Brazilians in that country, mostly religious missionaries, has not been harmed, and that the 15 Brazilians in the country as representatives of the Brazilian government (diplomats and technical personnel from the Petroleum Agency and the Ministry of Education) are also safe.

The coup d'état was also condemned by the head of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP), of which Sao Tome is a member (along with Mozambique, Cabo Verde, Angola, Guiné-Bissau, Brazil, Portugal and East Timor).

At the beginning of May, as part of preparations for the Lula trip to Africa, minister Celso Amorim was in Sao Tome and Principe for talks with president Fradique Mendes who was elected in 2001. Under discussion was Brazilian participation in oil exploration in that country, together with Nigeria and Gabon. It is estimated that Sao Tome has oil reserves that could produce 60,000 barrels per day - an important source of revenue for one of the world's poorest countries. Along with the discovery of petroleum, Sao Tome is in a region where the United States wants to install a military base. As a result, a lot of money has recently made its way there. This has created a series of security problems, mostly caused by nationalistic factions in the country.

Amorim also visited the new Brazilian embassy in Sao Tome which Lula was scheduled to inaugurate.

Today and tomorrow, the CPLP will be holding its VIII Ministerial Council meeting in Coimbra, Portugal. The problem in Sao Tome and Principe will now certainly be at the top of the agenda. The CPLP has become an active and efficient organization through the creation of informal working groups which deal with international affairs of interest to its members. (AB)

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