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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, July 24, 2003

Sao Tome President Flies Home

Fradique de Menezes, the president of Sao Tome and Principe, returned to his west African island country on Wednesday afternoon from Gabon after signing an agreement with coup leaders to restore constitutional order on the archipelago, reports reaching Luanda said.


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Fradique de Menezes, the president of Sao Tome and Principe, returned to his west African island country on Wednesday afternoon from Gabon after signing an agreement with coup leaders to restore constitutional order on the archipelago, reports reaching Luanda said.

President de Menezes, who was in Nigeria during the July 16 coup, arrived at an airport outside Sao Tome's capital after flying home via neighboring Gabon, accompanied by his Nigerian counterpart Olusegun Obasanjo.

Earlier, speaking after arriving in Sao Tome, Gabon's Foreign Minister Jean Ping said that "An agreement has been reached, the president has signed an accord restoring legality and democratic rule."

Major Fernando Pereira Cobo, leader of the military junta in Sao Tome and Principe said on Wednesday that army officers had reached an agreement for parliament to reconvene and grant amnesty to those persons behind last week's military takeover.

Some hundreds of soldiers led by Pereira seized power and formed a "Military Junta of National Salvation" in the poverty-stricken Gulf of Guinea archipelago in a bloodless coup on July 16when President de Menezes was in Nigeria on a private visit.

The island country with a population of about 140,000 people lies in an area of increasing international significance due to oil discoveries in its territorial waters.

Sao Tome's coup has been widely condemned by the international community and some countries and financial bodies have threatened the archipelago with diplomatic isolation if constitutional order is not speedily returned.


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