Sao Tome & Principe

.........Sao Tome was part of Portugal’s African possessions for 500 years. It was developed as a plantation economy, initially for sugar and later for cocoa, taking advantage of the fertile volcanic soils.

By 1908, Sao Tome had become the largest producer of cocoa in the world. Uninhabited when the first Portuguese settlers came, Portugal introduced slave labour from Angola and neighbouring countries, and after the abolition of slavery in 1876, Portugal used forced contract labour from its other African colonies to work on the plantations.

The makeup of the population of the country reflects that history: many are mixed-blood or mestico, while others are direct descendants of African slaves.

The population had agitated for independence from Portugal from 1960, mainly through the activities of the Movement for the Liberation of Sao Tome and Principe (originally known as CLSTP in 1960, becoming MLSTP in 1972).

But, it was not until the military coup in Portugal in 1974 that the principle of independence was conceded. A transitional government was set up, elections were held for a 16-member constituent assembly ( for which all seats were won by the MLSTP) leading to independence on 12 July 1975.

The constitution subsequently adopted in November 1975 vested absolute authority in the President and the Polit Bureau of the MSLTP. Radical socialist policies were introduced, all land and property was nationalised, and the economy was run on central planning doctrine.

These hardline policies soon produced splits in the Party forcing a number of moderate politicians into exile. Two alleged coup attempts in 1978 and 1980, involving exiles, further underlined the ideological and personal divisions within the ruling party.

In the late 1980s, the MLSTP changed direction, initiating a series of economic reforms together with liberalisation within the Party itself. This paved the way for the return of the exiles. But, there were further coup attempts in 1995 and July 2003, the latter over disagreements on the government’s handling of oil exploration licensing.