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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:The Bloodless Coup of July 16 in São Tomé e Príncipe
Author:Seibert, GerhardISNI
Year:2003
Periodical:Lusotopie
Pages:245-260
Language:English
Geographic term:São Tomé and Principe
Subjects:coups d'état
2003
Military, Defense and Arms
Politics and Government
Inter-African Relations
External link:http://lusotopie.sciencespobordeaux.fr/seibert2003.pdf
Abstract:In the early morning of 16 July 2003, soldiers seized key sites and captured a number of government ministers in São Tomé. It was a coup sui generis, since nobody was hurt during the action, the ministers detained in the barracks were well-treated and could communicate with the outside world, while ordinary life remained almost unaffected by the events. This takeover was very similar to the country's first coup in August 1995: the coup plotters justified their action by referring to the miserable conditions of the army and the corruption within the government, and they declared that they did not intend to take over power themselves. In both cases the Supreme Command did not participate in the putsch. Contrary to 1995, this time the initiative for the coup did not come from the military, but from a group of Saotomean members of the former Buffalo Battalion in South Africa, whose demands for compensation and reintegration measures were the main cause behind the coup. The country's increasing regional and international importance as an oil producer played an important role in the international mediation in the conflict. While in 1995 Angola was the only mediator, this time eight countries were involved in the process, which was dominated by Nigeria. Notes, ref., sum. in French, Portuguese and English (p. 554-555). [Journal abstract]
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