July 17, 2003

Sao Tome Coup Update

Here's an excerpt of the transcript of the July 16 State Department press briefing by spokesman Richard Boucher in which the coup in Sao Tome was discussed:

QUESTION: Do you have any comment on the coup?

MR. BOUCHER: We have reports now from our Embassy in Libreville, Gabon, as well as from the media, that Prime Minister Maria das Neves and some other government officials were put under arrest about 3:00 a.m. local time in Sao Tome. We deplore these actions. We strongly urge those involved to release the arrested government officials. President Menezes was out of the country on a visit to Nigeria. The Prime Minister and some other government officials are, as I said, reportedly under arrest. Early reports indicate that all of approximately 25 U.S. citizens, including our U.S. Ambassador Kenneth Moorefield and other staff from the Embassy in Libreville who were visiting Sao Tome, are safe and unharmed. We understand that four of these individuals worked for the Voice of America, four were Embassy Libreville staff, and the remainder were private U.S. citizens. There are no reports of any injuries or deaths that we know of at this point. The United States does not have a resident embassy in Sao Tome, but Ambassador Moorefield is accredited to Sao Tome, as well as to Gabon. That is what we know of the situation now.

QUESTION: Are we doing anything to try to help the president return to power?

MR. BOUCHER: At this point, we are following the situation closely. I would say we are monitoring developments. We are also, I think, looking at our assistance programs to determine what we need to do with those, and we will review those programs and take the appropriate action once the facts have become clear.

Meanwhile, ABC News is following developments in Sao Tome.