Luanda – Angolan President João Lourenço appealed Saturday to the Sao Tome authorities to act with a spirit of justice and serenity to clarify the ongoing situation in the country.
Early on Friday (25), four men attacked, at dawn, an army barracks in Sao Tome and Principe, in what the country’s Prime Minister Patrice Trovoada considered it “an attempt of a coup d’etat”.
In a statement released Saturday in Luanda, João Lourenço, as acting chairman of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP), calls for measures to be taken in observance with the country’s legislation and human rights principles.
The statement adds that Angola will continue to closely monitor the events in Sao Tome and Principe and be available to play the role required within the CPLP, with a view to building a basis for understanding among all the living forces of the Sao Tomean nation.
Following Friday’s events, the four attackers died, as well as one of the alleged instigators of the action who had been arrested, Arlécio Costa, a former officer of the now defunct “Buffalo Battalion”, already convicted in 2009 for another coup attempt almost 20 years ago.
Another of those allegedly responsible, the former Speaker of the National Assembly and current deputy of the Basta movement, Delfim Neves, was also arrested.
Source: Angola Press News Agency