Vol 7 (AAC) No 2 | SÃO TOMÉ & PRÍNCIPECHINATAIWAN Move closer 30th November 2013 After allowing China to open a trade office in November, São Tomé is fending off claims that it may abandon Taiwan, its diplomatic ally Prime Minister Gabriel Costa is walking a fine line by encouraging investment from both China and Taiwan. Chinese oil companies play a crucial role in oil exploration, but Taiwan o...
Vol 7 (AAC) No 2 | SÃO TOMÉ & PRÍNCIPECHINA Ins and outs of the oil companies 30th November 2013 São Tomé e Príncipe’s Agência Nacional do Petróleo signed a production-sharing contract with the Hong Kong-registered private oil company Si...
Vol 54 No 21 | SÃO TOMÉ & PRÍNCIPE 'Pirates' free captains 17th October 2013 The two sea captains arrested in São Tomé left for home last week but President Manuel Pinto da Costa seemed determined to squeeze some profit out of the affair. On 2...
Vol 54 No 19 | SÃO TOMÉ & PRÍNCIPE Total loss 19th September 2013 Hopes of oil wealth seem to be in ruins now that oil company Total has decided to abandon Block 1 of the Joint Development Zone (JDZ) with Nigeria. France’s Total took over C...
Vol 54 No 15 | SÃO TOMÉ & PRÍNCIPE 'Piracy' row with Sweden 17th July 2013 The public cheered its coastguard’s seizure of two ships accused smuggling. Stena Oil calls it piracy Swedish firm Stena Oil accuses São Tomé of staging a show trial after it gaoled two ships’ masters for three years for smuggling and seized their vessels. This ...
Vol 53 No 25 | SÃO TOMÉ & PRÍNCIPE Trovoada sacked 14th December 2012 Prime Minister Patrice Trovoada’s government failed to reach the end of its term, as Africa Confidential predicted (AC Vol 53 No 22, Opposition shakes Trovoada), and lawyer Gabriel...
Vol 53 No 22 | SÃO TOMÉ & PRÍNCIPE Opposition shakes Trovoada 2nd November 2012 Anti-government protestors demonstrate against the Prime Minister’s manipulation of national television The biggest challenge yet to the government of Prime Minister Patrice Trovoada saw the three opposition parties band together in a major demonstration on 19 October with ‘Save Demo...
Vol 53 No 2 | SÃO TOMÉ & PRÍNCIPE Dragons in Eden 20th January 2012 Príncipe wants a tourist bonanza and fears that São Tomé may try to obstruct it The authorities are still tracking down protestors on Príncipe island who, at dawn on 8 December, burned the national flag in front of the Regional Government building in Santo Ant...
Vol 52 No 17 | SÃO TOMÉ & PRÍNCIPE Pinto da Costa back in office 26th August 2011 Prime Minister Patrice Trovoada will have to find a way to deal with a President freed from party loyalties A veteran of the liberation struggle, Manuel Pinto da Costa, defeated Evaristo do Espírito Santo Carvalho, Speaker of Parliament and candidate of the governing Acção Democrática In...
Vol 52 No 8 | SÃO TOMÉ & PRÍNCIPE The candidates line up 15th April 2011 An official probe into a corrupt oil deal with Nigerian companies is worrying the political class and could upset calculations in the coming elections São Tomé e Príncipe holds its much delayed presidential election in July. Meanwhile, a parliamentary inquiry into claimed corruption over an oil project with Nigeria is upsetting t...