The 2022 São Tomé and Príncipe coup d'état attempt was an attempted

coup d'état A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...

that is reported to have taken place on the

island nation An island country, island state, or island nation is a country whose primary territory consists of one or more islands or parts of islands. Approximately 25% of all independent countries are island countries. Island countries are historically ...

São Tomé and Príncipe São Tomé and Príncipe, officially the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe, is an island country in the Gulf of Guinea, off the western equatorial coast of Central Africa. It consists of two archipelagos around the two main isla ...

overnight on 24–25 November 2022. At a press conference held on 25 November, the nation's

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Patrice Trovoada Patrice Émery Trovoada (born 18 March 1962) is a São Toméan politician who was the 15th prime minister of São Tomé and Príncipe from November 2022 to 6 January 2025. He previously served as prime minister from February 2008 to June 2008, f ...

, said that the country's

armed forces A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a ...

headquarters had come under attack from four men, including Delfim Neves,

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

of the outgoing

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

, and a

military officer An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer (NCO), or a warrant officer. However, absent c ...

who had attempted a previous coup. The attempted coup was thwarted by the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

, and its perpetrators were described as being under arrest. Four people were killed in a gunfight, and 12 active soldiers were involved. Trovoada also suggested fighters from the officially disbanded South African group Buffalo Battalion were involved, and that one of their mercenaries Arlecio Costa, who was killed in the fighting, was one of the ringleaders. The coup leaders said they had tried to overthrow the government due to poverty in the country. In a

Deutsche Welle (; "German Wave"), commonly shortened to DW (), is a German state-funded television network, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the Federal Government of Germany. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite tele ...

interview on 6 December, outgoing prime minister

Jorge Bom Jesus Jorge Lopes Bom Jesus (born 26 July 1962), also known as JBJ, is a Santomean linguist and politician who was the 17th Prime Minister of São Tomé and Príncipe from 3 December 2018 to 10 November 2022. He is a member of the Movement for the Lib ...

labelled the event as an "invention" that the new government would use as a pretext to crack down on opposition parties.

References

2020s coups d'état and coup attempts Conflicts in 2022 Attempted coups d'état in São Tomé and Príncipe November 2022 in Africa 2022 in São Tomé and Príncipe {{Africa-poli-stub

See also

References