There seems to have been another coup attempt planned in São Tomé e Príncipe. The country has been classed a full democracy by pretty much all observers since the early 1990s. However, since this time there have been two coups – albeit fairly benign ones. The first was in 1995. There is a nice resume of events (in English) in the review Lusotopie, 1996 (available at: http://www.lusotopie.sciencespobordeaux.fr/seibert96.pdf. The second was in 2003. Again, a review is provided (in English) in Lusotopie, 2003 (available at: http://www.lusotopie.sciencespobordeaux.fr/seibert2003.pdf.

Now, jeuneafrique is reporting that the same ex-mercenaries who were behind the 2003 coup were plotting another attempt. However, the government swooped before any events happened and arrested a group of people. In fact, a total of 38 people were arrested last week.

Among those arrested was Arlecio Costa, a former mercenary in South africa, and leader of one of the country’s small political parties, the Christian Democratic Front (FDC). According to African Elections, the FDC supported the re-election campaign of President Fradique de Menezes in 2006.