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São Tomé and Príncipe Prime Minister Patrice Trovoada (2018 photo)
Photo: PARKER SONG / AFP
In the African island state of São Tomé and Príncipe, there was an attempted coup early in the morning, according to officials.
According to the Reuters news agency, Prime Minister Patrice Trovoada told a local radio station that military installations had been attacked.
"We became the target of an attempted coup that began around 4 a.m. and ended just after 6 a.m.," Trovoada said.
Four attackers were "neutralized" and arrested.
The former President of the National Assembly, Delfin Neves, has apparently also been detained since Friday morning.
Guinea-Bissau President Umaro Sissoco Embalo, current leader of the West African Economic Community Ecowas, condemned the attempted coup on Twitter.
He described São Tomé and Príncipe as one of the model states for parliamentary democracy in Africa.
São Tomé and Príncipe was once a Portuguese colony and has been considered politically stable since the last attempted coup in 2003.
Around 200,000 people live on the archipelago.
fek/Reuters
