January 2, 2003

This Story Is More Important Than You Might Think

A tiny nation you never heard of (unless you read this last October) has lost its one-boat navy. Nigeria appears to have swiped it.

Why is that important? Because the tiny two-island nation of Sao Tome and Principe, off the coast of Nigeria, sits atop massive oil reserves. And is pro-American. And Nigeria - increasingly falling under the sway of Islamofascists - covets that oil and increasingly seeks to intimidate Sao Tome.

Says today's WSJ:

Everything that happens in the former Portuguese colony has taken on a new weight since the world discovered that below Sao Tome's waters lie an estimated four billion barrels of crude oil. That's one reason the Bush administration suddenly views Sao Tome as a new strategic ally far from the turbulent Middle East. Sao Tome fears that by holding hostage its Coast Guard, Nigeria is trying to intimidate it to gain leverage over the potential wealth lying beneath their shared frontier in the Gulf of Guinea. At the moment, the two countries are supposed to jointly develop the oil in those waters, subject to a 2001 treaty.

For more on Sao Tome and why the Bush administration was reported to be considering helping the little nation out by establishing a friendly U.S. military presence there, click here.

Also, this BBC article from October reports that there are no U.S. plans for a full-scale military base on the tiny island, but that "the US was looking at providing Sao Tome with patrol boats to improve its maritime and customs controls, and would be expanding co-operation in other areas. Even if a military base is now discounted, there is no doubt that the US is increasingly interested in the 60 billion barrels of proven oil reserves in the Gulf of Guinea."

To put that in perspective, Saudi Arabia has about 250 billion barrels of proven oil reserves.

Given the role of Islam-The Religion of Peace® in both terrorism and many of the largest oil-producing nations, you may be wondering about the religious make-up of Sao Tome. Me too. So I looked it up. Turns out the little nation of 140,000 people is largely Roman Catholic. And Sao Tome's constitution provides for freedom of religion. Here's a link to some more information about that.

Oh, and Sao Tome is a democracy, and a stable one at that.

Here?s a quote from the Oct. 7, 2002, New Yorker magazine cover story ( a must-read, not available online), quoting an unnamed State Department official about Sao Tome's oil:"We import fifty per cent of our oil. Supplier number one is Canada, two is Saudi Arabia, three is Venezuela, four is Mexico, and five is Nigeria. Folks have finally figured out that we don't need to rely on the Middle East for oil. African oil is less sticky than the stuff you get in the Middle East, and much of it is in deep water far offshore, so the natives don't notice it being taken, whereas in the Middle East it's pumped out of the ground under the noses of Wahhabi fundamentalists. Then you have Sao Tome, which is basically the only stable democracy in West Africa. It's perfect.UPDATE (1/4/03): Here's more info on that tiny African island nation of Sao Tome and the possibility that the U.S. might establish a military presence in the pro-American, oil-rich country. It's from early December but, hey, I've been busy.

Sao Tome and Principe's President Fradique de Menezes, is quoted in a recent article in The East African, published in Kenya as saying his country has reached agreement with the US for the construction of a naval base that will be able to accommodate aircraft carriers. Washington has denied that it wants to build a Sao Tome base, though it is hinting at "coastal patrol issues". Signs are that in the short term the US administration may want to play down the role of west Africa as a source of oil that would replace Mideast producers.