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Toppled President Negotiating With Coup Leaders
Sao Tome and Principe's ousted President Fradique de Menezes, who soldiers toppled from power in the tiny oil-rich West African island nation on Wednesday, was trying to negotiate with the coup leaders to peacefully renounce their action, an official said. "The president is trying to reach a peaceful resolution of the crisis," presidential spokesman Guillerme Neto, told in IRIN on Thursday in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, where Menezes was visiting when the pre-dawn coup took place. Neto did not give details but news agencies said Nigeria would send an envoy to meet the coup leaders. The African Union President who is also Mozambiquan head of state, Joachim Chissano, has condemned the coup as did the US government, the UN secretary-General Kofi Annan and several world leaders. "The African Union will not accept the coup and will seek a restoration of the constitutional government to power through peaceful means," Chissano said on Thursday at the Sullivan Summit leadership conference attended by several African and African-American leaders. De Menezes on Wednesday appealed to "all democrats, world leaders and African leaders" to help restore democratic order in the country. He was quoted by the BBC as saying the coup was about oil.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2003-07-22 |
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