African envoys flew to Sao Tome and Principe last night to try to persuade coup leaders to reverse their takeover of the tiny island state where hopes of striking oil have fuelled political turmoil.
Mediators from African oil-producing states including Nigeria, Angola and Gabon arrived for talks on the return of President Fradique de Menezes, who was in Nigeria when troops seized power on Wednesday.
Nigeria, which had a deal with the ousted government to jointly develop possible offshore oilfields along their maritime border, had hinted at the threat of military intervention if the coup plotters refused to negotiate.
"There are certain rules that we all have to abide by and we came here to help make sure that Sao Tome continues to live by them," Angolan Interior Minister Osvaldo Serra Van Dunem said as he stepped onto the tarmac at Sao Tome's airport.
Earlier, a senior coup leader, Captain Arlecio da Costa, denied accusations made by the toppled president that the officers were lured into grabbing power by the promise of oil.
"This isn't about getting the oil, this is about making sure that before the oil starts coming in the government is in the right hands so that the oil will benefit everybody in the country," he said.
The junta freed another prisoner yesterday -- one of a about a dozen officials, including the oil minister, who were seized on Wednesday. The parliament speaker was freed on Friday.
The coup officers, led by Major Fernando Pereira, have said they wanted to form a transitional government to fight poverty on Sao Tome and Principe, among the world's poorest states.