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Sao Tome government negotiates with mutinous police unit
Real estate news By International Herald Tribune
October 9, 2007
The government of Sao Tome and Principe opened negotiations Tuesday with disgruntled members of the West African country's elite police unit who took control of police headquarters by force and were holding some two dozen policemen hostage, officials said. About three dozen members of the riot police, known locally as "ninjas," seized the police headquarters Monday after a simmering dispute with the government over what they said was outstanding pay.
No shots were fired and no injuries were reported in the attack. Shops and offices were open as normal Tuesday and no soldiers could be seen in the streets. Delegations from the mutinous police and the government met Tuesday at the Defense Ministry to seek a way out of the standoff, according to government sources who spoke on condition of anonymity due the delicate stage of the negotiations. The rebellious police reportedly are demanding the payment of a bonus allegedly promised to them by the government for their training program in Angola in 2003-04.
Social and political instability have contributed to the collapse of six Sao Tome governments over the past six years, holding up economic development plans, including offshore oil production. The United Nations says the twin-island nation is one of the world's poorest countries. In 2003, renegade soldiers staged a coup that they later abandoned under international pressure. The soldiers accused politicians of leading the country into ruin. The country of about 150,000 people is still waiting for the benefits of its offshore oil reserves, discovered nine years ago.
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