According to Prime Minister Patrice Trovoada, a coup attempt in Sao Tome and Principe, a tiny island nation in the Gulf of Guinea that is seen as an example of parliamentary democracy in Africa, failed on Thursday night.
In a video verified and sent to AFP in Libreville by Justice Minister Ilsa Maria dos Santos Amado Vaz, Trovoada claimed that four men—including the former president of the outgoing national assembly Delfim Neves and a former military officer who had already attempted a coup in 2009—were arrested and tried to attack the army headquarters.
The chief of state, who is seen sitting at a desk, looking exhausted and with a raincoat over a T-shirt, was anxious to “reassure” the populace and “the world community.”
The military was attacked in a barracks, he continued, adding that the coup attempt started at 00.40 and finished just after 6am.
Under the condition of anonymity, a resident of Sao Tome’s capital claimed that she had heard “automatic and heavier weapons fire, as well as detonations, for two hours within the army headquarters.”
