sao tome: Military coup in Sao Tome

Efforts are under way to hold talks with the leaders of the coup which toppled the government of the West African island state of Sao Tome and Principe on Wednesday. Rebel army officers in the tiny former Portuguese colony seized the prime minister and other cabinet members in the dawn coup, which appears to have been largely bloodless. Sao Tome and Principe, one of the world's poorest states, has offshore oilfields which are due to begin producing within the next four years.