PM Trovoada says at the very least six individuals detained after in a single day assault, together with the Nationwide Meeting’s former president.
A coup try has been thwarted in Sao Tome and Principe, in response to the prime minister of the African island nation usually praised for its stability.
Navy barracks got here beneath assault early on Friday, Prime Minister Patrice Trovoada stated at a information briefing aired on personal broadcaster Radio Somos Todos Primos.
“We had been focused by an tried coup, which started round 00:40 [00:40 GMT] and was accomplished … shortly after 06:00 [06:00 GMT],” he stated.
At the very least six individuals have reportedly been detained.
The pinnacle of the Financial Neighborhood of West African States condemned the coup try within the Gulf of Guinea nation.
“Sao Tome and Principe is a rustic thought-about a mannequin of parliamentary democracy in Africa,” Guinea-Bissau President Umaro Sissoco Embalo stated on Twitter.
Je condamne avec la plus grande peine et fermeté la tentative de coup d’État qui a eu lieu dans la nuit de jeudi 24 à vendredi 25 novembre à Sao Tomé-et-Principe. #SAOTOME-ET-PRINCIPE est un des pays considéré comme un modèle de démocratie parlementaire en Afrique, pic.twitter.com/DXkzNUZZIn
— Umaro Sissoco Embaló (@USEmbalo) November 25, 2022
Trovoada stated 4 attackers had been “neutralised” and detained after the coup try. A former president of the Nationwide Meeting, Delfim Neves, was arrested on Friday morning, and a former soldier, Arlecio Costa, was additionally detained in relation to the coup, the prime minister stated.
Neves misplaced his place on November 11 when a brand new chamber was put in following elections in September, through which Trovoada’s centre-right Unbiased Democratic Motion (ADI) occasion gained an absolute majority.
The ADI is one in all two main events which have vied to run the nation since independence in 1975. The opposite is the Motion for the Liberation of Sao Tome and Principe-Social Democratic Celebration (MLSTP-PSD). The ADI’s electoral triumph noticed Trovoada return to the publish of prime minister for a 3rd time.
A resident talking to the AFP information company anonymously by telephone stated she had heard “automated and heavy weapons fireplace in addition to explosions for 2 hours inside military headquarters” within the nation’s capital, Sao Tome.
She stated town was now calm: “Individuals are going about their regular enterprise, however faculties have requested mother and father to not ship their youngsters.”
Sao Tome and Principe is a former Portuguese colony, positioned off the western equatorial coast of Africa. It has been comparatively secure since an tried army coup towards the federal government of President Fradique de Menezes in 2003. Coup leaders on the time stated they tried to topple the federal government because of widespread poverty.