Introduction:
Discovered and claimed by Portugal in the late 15th century, the islands'
sugar-based economy gave way to coffee and cocoa in the 19th century - all grown
with plantation slave labor, a form of which lingered into the 20th century.
While independence was achieved in 1975, democratic reforms were not instituted
until the late 1980s. Although the first free elections were held in 1991, the
political environment has been one of continued instability with frequent
changes in leadership and coup attempts in 1995 and 2003. The recent discovery
of oil in the Gulf of Guinea promises to have a significant impact on the
country's economy.
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Geography
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Climate
SAO TOME IL 0 38 N, 6 71 E, 42 feet (13 meters) above
sea level.
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PEOPLE
Of Sao Tome and Principe's total population, about 137,500 live on Sao Tome and
6,000 on Principe. All are descended from various ethnic groups that have
migrated to the islands since 1485. Six groups are identifiable:
Mestico, or mixed-blood, descendants of African slaves brought to the islands
during the early years of settlement from Benin, Gabon, and Congo (these people
also are known as filhos da terra or 'sons of the land'); Angolares, reputedly
descendants of Angolan slaves who survived a 1540 shipwreck and now earn their
livelihood fishing; Forros, descendants of freed slaves when slavery was
abolished; Servicais, contract laborers from Angola, Mozambique, and Cape Verde,
living temporarily on the islands; Tongas, children of servicais born on the
islands; and Europeans, primarily Portuguese.
In the 1970s, there were two significant population movements--the exodus of
most of the 4,000 Portuguese residents and the influx of several hundred Sao
Tomean refugees from Angola. The islanders have been absorbed largely into a
common Luso-African culture. Almost all belong to the Roman Catholic,
Evangelical Protestant, or Seventh-day Adventist Churches, which in turn retain
close ties with churches in Portugal.
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HISTORY
The islands were first discovered by Portuguese navigators between 1469 and
1472. The first successful settlement of Sao Tome was established in 1493 by
Alvaro Caminha, who received the land as a grant from the Portuguese crown.
Principe was settled in 1500 under a similar arrangement. By the mid-1500s, with
the help of slave labor, the Portuguese settlers had turned the islands into
Africa's foremost exporter of sugar. Sao Tome and Principe were taken over and
administered by the Portuguese crown in 1522 and 1573, respectively.
Sugar cultivation declined over the next 100 years, and by the mid-1600s, Sao
Tome was little more than a port of call for bunkering ships. In the early
1800s, two new cash crops, coffee and cocoa, were introduced. The rich volcanic
soils proved well suited to the new cash crop industry, and soon extensive
plantations (rocas), owned by Portuguese companies or absentee landlords,
occupied almost all of the good farmland. By 1908, Sao Tome had become the
world's largest producer of cocoa, still the country's most important crop.
The rocas system, which gave the plantation managers a high degree of authority,
led to abuses against the African farm workers. Although Portugal officially
abolished slavery in 1876, the practice of forced paid labor continued. In the
early 1900s, an internationally publicized controversy arose over charges that
Angolan contract workers were being subjected to forced labor and unsatisfactory
working conditions. Sporadic labor unrest and dissatisfaction continued well
into the 20th century, culminating in an outbreak of riots in 1953 in which
several hundred African laborers were killed in a clash with their Portuguese
rulers. This 'Batepa Massacre' remains a major event in the colonial history of
the islands, and the government officially observes its anniversary.
By the late 1950s, when other emerging nations across the African Continent were
demanding independence, a small group of Sao Tomeans had formed the Movement for
the Liberation of Sao Tome and Principe (MLSTP), which eventually established
its base in nearby Gabon. Picking up momentum in the 1960s, events moved quickly
after the overthrow of the Salazar and Caetano dictatorship in Portugal in April
1974. The new Portuguese regime was committed to the dissolution of its overseas
colonies; in November 1974, their representatives met with the MLSTP in Algiers
and worked out an agreement for the transfer of sovereignty. After a period of
transitional government, Sao Tome and Principe achieved independence on July 12,
1975, choosing as its first President the MLSTP Secretary General, Manuel Pinto
da Costa.
In 1990, Sao Tome became one of the first African countries to embrace
democratic reform. Changes to the constitution, including the legalization of
opposition political parties, led to nonviolent, free, and transparent elections
in 1991. Miguel Trovoada, a former Prime Minister who had been in exile since
1986, returned as an independent candidate and was elected President. Trovoada
was re-elected in Sao Tome's second multiparty presidential election in 1996.
The Party of Democratic Convergence (PCD) toppled the MLSTP to take a majority
of seats in the National Assembly, with the MLSTP becoming an important and
vocal minority party. Municipal elections followed in late 1992, in which the
MLSTP came back to win a majority of seats on five of seven regional councils.
In early legislative elections in October 1994, the MLSTP won a plurality of
seats in the Assembly. It regained an outright majority of seats in the November
1998 elections.
The Government of Sao Tome fully functions under a multiparty system.
Presidential elections were held in July 2001. The candidate backed by the
Independent Democratic Action Party, Fradique de Menezes, was elected in the
first round and inaugurated on September 3. Parliamentary elections held in
March 2002 led to a coalition government after no party gained a majority of
seats. An attempted coup d'etat in July 2003 by a few members of the military
and the Christian Democratic Front (mostly representative of former Sao Tomean
volunteers from the apartheid-era Republic of South African Army) was reversed
by international, including American, mediation without bloodshed. In September
2004, President de Menezes dismissed the Prime Minister and appointed a new
cabinet, which was accepted by the majority party. In June 2005, following
public discontent with oil exploration licenses granted in the Joint Development
Zone (JDZ) with Nigeria, the MLSTP, the party with the largest number of seats
in the National Assembly, and its coalition partners threatened to resign from
government and force early parliamentary elections. After several days of
negotiations, the President and the MLSTP agreed to form a new government and to
avoid early elections. The new government included Maria Silveira, the
well-respected head of the Central Bank, who served concurrently as Prime
Minister and Finance Minister.
The March 2006 legislative elections went forward without a hitch, with
President Menezes' party, the Movement for the Democratic Force of Change
(MDFM), winning 23 seats and taking an unexpected lead ahead of MLSTP. MLSTP
came in second with 19 seats, and the Independent Democratic Alliance (ADI) came
in third with 12 seats. Amidst negotiations to form a new coalition government,
President Menezes nominated a new prime minister and cabinet.
July 30, 2006 marked Sao Tome and Principe's fourth democratic, multiparty
presidential elections. The elections were regarded by both local, and
international observers as being free and fair and Incumbent Fradique de Menezes
was announced the winner with approximately 60 % of the vote. Voter turnout was
relatively high with 63% of the 91, 000 registered voters casting ballots.
GOVERNMENT AND POLITICAL CONDITIONS
Following the promulgation of a new constitution in 1990,
Sao Tome and Principe held multiparty elections for the first time since
independence. Shortly after the constitution took effect, the National Assembly
formally legalized opposition parties. Independent candidates also were
permitted to participate in the January 1991 legislative elections. The
55-member National Assembly is the supreme organ of the state and the highest
legislative body. Its members are elected for a 4-year term and meet
semiannually.
The president of the republic is elected to a 5-year term by direct universal
suffrage and a secret ballot, and may hold office up to two consecutive terms.
Candidates are chosen at their party's national conference or individuals may
run independently. A presidential candidate must obtain an outright majority of
the popular vote in either a first or second round of voting in order to be
elected president. The prime minister is named by the president but must be
ratified by the majority party and thus normally comes from a list of its
choosing. The prime minister, in turn, names the 14 members of the Cabinet.
Justice is administered at the highest level by the Supreme Court. Formerly
responsible to the National Assembly, the judiciary is now independent under the
current constitution.
Administratively, the country is divided into seven municipal districts, six on
Sao Tome and one comprising Principe. Governing councils in each district
maintain a limited number of autonomous decision-making powers, and are
reelected every 5 years.
Principal Government Officials
President--Fradique Bandeira Melo de Menezes
Prime Minister--Tome Vera Cruz
Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Planning and Finance--Maria dos Santos Tebus
Torres
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation--Carlos Gustavo dos Anjos
Minister of Defense and Internal Affairs--Lt. Col. Oscar Aguiar Sacramento e
Sousa
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ECONOMY
Since the 1800s, the economy of Sao Tome and Principe has been based on
plantation agriculture. At the time of independence, Portuguese-owned
plantations occupied 90% of the cultivated area. After independence, control of
these plantations passed to various state-owned agricultural enterprises, which
have since been privatized. The dominant crop on Sao Tome is cocoa, representing
about 95% of exports. Other export crops include copra, palm kernels, and
coffee.
Domestic food-crop production is inadequate to meet local consumption, so the
country imports some of its food. Efforts have been made by the government in
recent years to expand food production, and several projects have been
undertaken, largely financed by foreign donors.
Other than agriculture, the main economic activities are fishing and a small
industrial sector engaged in processing local agricultural products and
producing a few basic consumer goods. The scenic islands have potential for
tourism, and the government is attempting to improve its rudimentary tourist
industry infrastructure. The government sector accounts for about 11% of
employment.
Following independence, the country had a centrally directed economy with most
means of production owned and controlled by the state. The original constitution
guaranteed a 'mixed economy,' with privately owned cooperatives combined with
publicly owned property and means of production. In the 1980s and 1990s, the
economy of Sao Tome encountered major difficulties. Economic growth stagnated,
and cocoa exports dropped in both value and volume, creating large
balance-of-payments deficits. Efforts to redistribute plantation land resulted
in decreased cocoa production. At the same time, the international price of
cocoa slumped.
In response to its economic downturn, the government undertook a series of
far-reaching economic reforms. In 1987, the government implemented an
International Monetary Fund (IMF) structural adjustment program, and invited
greater private participation in management of the parastatals, as well as in
the agricultural, commercial, banking, and tourism sectors. The focus of
economic reform since the early 1990s has been widespread privatization,
especially of the state-run agricultural and industrial sectors.
The Sao Tomean Government has traditionally been reliant on foreign assistance
from various donors, including the UN Development Program, the World Bank, the
European Union (EU), Portugal, Taiwan, and the African Development Bank. Sao
Tome qualified for debt relief when it reached decision point under the IMF's
Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative (HIPC) in December 2000, but went off
track on its poverty reduction program in early 2001. After four years and
satisfactory performance on an interim staff-monitored program, the IMF approved
a new three-year $4.3 million Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF)
program for Sao Tome in September 2005. The ambitious new program aims to reduce
inflation to a single-digit number, address the country's macroeconomic
imbalances, and substantially reduce poverty.
In 2001, Sao Tome and Nigeria reached agreement on joint exploration for
petroleum in waters claimed by the two countries. After a lengthy series of
negotiations, in April 2003 the joint development zone (JDZ) was opened for bids
by international oil firms. The JDZ was divided into 9 blocks; the winning bids
for block one, ChevronTexaco, ExxonMobil, and the Norwegian firm Equity Energy,
were announced in April 2004, with Sao Tome to take in 40% of the $123 million
bid, and Nigeria the other 60%. Blocks 2 through 6 were allocated in June 2005.
Nigeria and Sao Tome signed production sharing contracts with the winning
bidders in November 2005. Chevron became the first firm to start exploratory
drilling in January 2006.
Portugal remains one of Sao Tome's major trading partners, particularly as a
source of imports. Food, manufactured articles, machinery, and transportation
equipment are imported primarily from the EU.
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