Mediators happy with return to order in Sao Tome after coup

BRAZZAVILLE, July 27 (AFP) - The international mediators who thrashed out a settlement to the short-lived military coup in Sao Tome and Principe are satisfied with the return to constitutional order on the impoverished west African archipelago, Congo's foreign minister said Sunday.

Under the deal reached Wednesday, deposed President Fradique de Menezes was allowed to return to office in return for an amnesty for the coup leaders and government concessions on greater transparency and power-sharing.

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"President Fradique de Menezes has reassumed all his prerogatives, as has as the national assembly," said Congolese Foreign Minister Rodlphe Adada, whose country currently heads the Economic Community of Central African States (CEEAC).

During the negotiations with the mediators, the rebel leaders had demanded solutions to the widespread problem of poverty on the islands and the issue of how to manage Sao Tome's unexploited oil reserves which could transform the country.

Adada said that these issues would be the subject of the national reconciliation forum foreseen by the agreement to end the coup.

The international mediators, who took part in three days of intense negotiations with the rebels, were made up of representatives from Angola, Brazil, Cape-Verde, Congo, Gabon, Mozambique, Nigeria, Portugal, South Africa and the United States.

De Menezes was deposed on July 16 in a bloodless coup by military officers, who took advantage of his absence on a visit to Nigeria.

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