Portugal sends coup investigators to São Tomé and Príncipe

Portugal has dispatched a team of investigators and experts from the judicial police at the request of Sao Tome and Principe to participate in the investigation into the failed coup attempt in this former Portuguese colony.

This team, made up of "investigators and experts from the judicial police" as well as an "expert in forensic medicine", was sent on Sunday following "an urgent request for help" from the authorities of Sao-Tome- Principe, says a joint statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Justice.

Portuguese investigators "will work directly with the judicial authorities of Sao Tome and Principe, as part of the investigation into the events of Friday", specifies the Portuguese government.

The Lisbon decision follows the failed coup attempt in this small island country in the Gulf of Guinea that the government claims to have foiled overnight from Thursday to Friday.

Four people, arrested following these events, died, according to the army chief of staff, Olinto Paquete, who did not give more details on the unclear circumstances.

The government of this independent country since 1975 has "firmly condemned" what it describes as a "violent attempt to subvert the constitutional order", following a council of ministers on Sunday, while assuring that "all investigations will be carried out to determine the causes and circumstances of the deaths", in addition to the investigations to determine the responsibilities for the attempted coup

Following several coup attempts, the last in 2003 and 2009, the parliamentary regime has asserted itself in this archipelago, considered a model of parliamentary democracy in Africa.

He has alternated several times between two parties: the Liberation Movement of Sao Tome and Principe-Social Democratic Party (MLSTP-PSD, center-left) and the Independent Democratic Action (ADI, center-right) of Mr. Trovoada.