Wayzata World Factbook 1994/World Factbook - 1994 Edition - Wayzata Technology (1994).iso/pc/text/txtfiles/sao_tome.bkg

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#CARD:Sao Tome and Principe:Background Notes
US DEPARTMENT OF STATE BACKGROUND NOTES:  SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE

August 1991
Official Name:  Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe

PROFILE
Geography
Area:  963 sq. km. (372 sq. mi.); one-third the size of Rhode Island.
Cities:  Capital--Sao Tome.  Other cities--Trindade, Santana, Porto
Alegre, Santo Antonio. Terrain:  Two small, volcanic islands. Climate:
Tropical, with wet and dry seasons.

People
Nationality:  Noun and adjective--Sao Tomean(s).  Population (1991):
123,500.  Annual growth rate: 1.8%.  Ethnic groups:  Mixed African,
Portuguese-African.   Religion:  Christian 80%.  Language:  Portuguese.
Education: Years compul-sory--to secondary level.  Literacy--about 51%.
Health:  Infant mortality rate (1990)--62/1,000.  Life expectancy--65
yrs. Work force  (1990, 35,000):  Agriculture--70%.  Industry, commerce,
services--13%. Government--12%.

Government
Type:  Republic.  Independence:  July 12, 1975.  Constitution:  November
5, 1975; revised September 1990, following a national referendum.
Branches:  Executive--president and prime minister.
Legislative--National Assembly.  Judicial--Supreme Tribunal.
Administrative subdivisions:  7 counties, 6 on Sao Tome, 1 on Principe.
Political parties:  Movement for the Liberation of Sao Tome and
Principe/Social Democratic Party (MLSTP/PSD); Democratic Convergence
Party/Group of Reflection (PCD/GR); Christian Democratic Front (PDC);
Democratic Coalition (CODO).
Suffrage: Universal adult.
Central government budget (1990):  $9.2 million. Current
deficit--$807,000.
National holiday:  July 12.
Flag:  Green, yellow, and green horizontal bands, two black stars in the
yellow band, red triangle on the staff side.

Economy
GDP (1990):  $53 million.  Annual growth rate:  3.8%.  Per capita income
(1990):  $434.  Annual inflation rate: 40%, 1990;
36%, 1989; 40%, 1988; 25%, 1987.
Natural resources: Agricultural products, fish.
Agriculture (25% of GDP): Products--cocoa, copra, palm kernels, bananas.
Cultivated land--35,741 hectares.
Industry (10% of GNP): Types--light construction, shirts, soap, beer,
fisheries, shrimp processing.
Trade (1990 est.): Exports--$2.4 million:  cocoa, copra, palm kernels,
coffee. Major markets--Netherlands, Germany, China.  Imports--$4.5
million: foodstuffs, petroleum products. Major suppliers--Portugal,
Netherlands, Angola (fuel), Japan.
Official exchange rate (July 1991):  192.0 dobras=US$1.

Membership in International Organizations
 UN, Organization of African Unity (OAU), European Community (associate
member under the Lome Convention), Economic Community of Central African
States (CEEAC).

PEOPLE
 Of Sao Tome and Principe's total population, about 116,500 live on Sao
Tome and 7,000 on Principe. All are descended from 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,
Congo, and Angola (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;
 --  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--an
exodus of most of the 4,000 Portuguese residents and an influx of
several hundred Sao Tomean refugees from Angola.
 The islanders have been absorbed largely into a common
Portuguese-African culture. Almost all belong to the Roman Catholic,
Evangelical Protestant, or Seventh-day Adventist Churches, which retain
close ties with churches in Portugal.

HISTORY
 These uninhibited islands were first discovered by Portuguese
navigators between 1469 and 1472. The first successful settlement of Sao
Tome was established in 1493 by Avaro 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 them, and
extensive plantations (rocas), owned by Portuguese companies or absentee
landlords, soon occupied most 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 international  press
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.  This "Batepa Massacre" remains a
major event in the colonial history of the islands, and its anniversary
is officially observed by the government.
 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
Caetano dictatorship in Portugal in April 1974. The new Portuguese
regime was  committed to the dissolution of its overseas colonies.  In
1974, Portuguese representatives met with the MLSTP in Algiers and
worked out an agreement for the transfer of sovereignty. After a period
of transition, Sao Tome and Principe achieved independence on July 12,
1975, choosing as its first president the MLSTP Secretary General Manuel
Pinto da Costa.
 Da Costa was re-elected unopposed in 1985 to a third 5-year term.  He
declined to run in Sao Tome's first multi-party presidential election,
held in March 1991, and was succeeded on April 3, 1991, by Miguel
Trovoada, an MLSTP founder who had been exiled after challenging Da
Costa's leadership of the party.

GOVERNMENT
 Under the new constitution passed by the National Assembly in April
1990, which was approved in an August public referendum and promulgated
in September, Sao Tome and Principe held multi-party elections for the
first time since independence.  Shortly after the constitution took
effect, the Popular Assembly formally legalized opposition parties and
permitted independent candidates to participate in the January 1991
legislative elections.  The Popular Assembly is the supreme organ of the
state and the highest legislative body.  It is elected for a 4-year
period and meets semiannually.
 The president of the republic is elected to a 5-year term by universal
suffrage and secret ballot.  Under the revised constitution, the
president is now elected by direct vote and is limited to two terms.
 Justice is administered at the highest level by the Supreme Tribunal,
formerly responsible to the Popular Assembly.  The judiciary is now
independent under the new constitution.

Principal Government Officials
President--Miguel Trovoada
Prime Minister--Daniel Lima Dos Santos Daio
Minister Foreign Affairs--Alda Bandeira Tavares Vaz Da Conceicao
Ambassador to the United States and the United Nations--Joaquim Rafael
Branco

 The Sao Tome and Principe Mission to the United States, which also is
the Sao Tomean Embassy to the United Nations, is located at 801 Second
Avenue, Suite 1504, NY, NY  10017 (tel. [phone])

POLITICAL CONDITIONS
 The MLSTP was the sole political party and predominant force in Sao
Tomean politics from independence until 1991.
A new constitution, as announced in 1989 by President Da Costa, was
adopted by the Popular Assembly in April 1990 approved in an August
nationwide referendum, and promulgated in September of that year.
 In preparation for the elections, opposition parties were legalized,
and independent candidates were authorized to seek seats.  Several
oppositoin candidates, including Miguel Trovoada, who became the
country's new president, returned to Sao Tome and Principe from exile to
participate.  In January 1991, Sao Tome became the second Lusophone
African country (only weeks after Cape Verde) to hold multi-party
legislative elections;  2 months later, it completed the transition by
electing a new president.

ECONOMY
 Since the 1800s, the Sao Tome and Principe economy has been based on
plantation agriculture.  At the time of independence, Portuguese-owned
plantations occupied 90% of the cultivated land.  After independence,
control of these plantations passed to various state-owned agricultural
enterprises. The dominant crop on Sao Tome is cocoa, representing about
90% of exports.  Other export crops include copra, palm kernels, and
coffee.  Domestic food-crop production is inadequate to meet local
consumption, and 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 20% of both employment and gross domestic product.
Since independence, the country has had a centrally directed economy
with most means of production owned and controlled by the state.  The
new constitution guarantees a "mixed economy," with privately owned
cooperatives combined with publicly owned property and means of
production.
 In recent years, the economy of Sao Tome has encountered major
difficulties:  economic growth has stagnated, and cocoa exports have
dropped in both value and volume, leaving large balance-of-payments
deficits.  The situation stems from a combination of external and
internal factors, including the significantly lower world price for
cocoa and production inefficiencies on the plantations.
 In response to its economic downturn, the government announced its
intention to carry out far-reaching economic reforms.  In 1987, the
government implemented  an International Monetary Fund structural
adjustment program, to which the new government continues to adhere.  It
has invited greater private participation in management of parastatals,
as well as in the agricultural, commercial, banking, and tourism
sectors, and is increasing efforts to attract foreign investment to Sao
Tome and Principe.
 The Sao Tomean Government has traditionally obtained foreign assistance
from various donors.  The UN Development Program, the World Bank, the
European Community, and the African Development Bank finance projects on
the islands.  Both communist and Western governments have provided
bilateral technical assistance in the past.
 Portugal remains one of Sao Tome's major trading partners, particularly
as a source of imports.  Food, manufactured articles, and machinery and
transportation equipment are imported from the European Economic
Community. The Netherlands and Germany represent the largest markets for
the country's exports.

FOREIGN RELATIONS
 Until independence, Sao Tome and Principe had few ties abroad except
those that passed through Portugal.  Following independence, the new
government sought to expand its diplomatic relationships.  A common
language, tradition, and colonial experience have led to close
collaboration between Sao Tome and other ex-Portuguese colonies in
Africa, particularly Angola.  Sao Tomean relations with other countries
in the region, such as the Congo and Gabon, also are good.
 Sao Tome and Principe has diplomatic relations with Western countries,
including the US, Portugal, France, and Germany, and with communist
countries, such as the Soviet Union and Cuba.  The latter have been
active in providing technical advisers in Sao Tome, especially Cuba,
which has advisers in the Ministries of Education and Planning.
 While the Sao Tomean Government has maintained a foreign policy based
on nonalignment and cooperation with any country willing to assist in
its economic development, it has recently begun to emphasize ties to the
United States and Western Europe.

US-SAO TOMEAN RELATIONS
 The United States was among the first to accredit an ambassador to Sao
Tome and Principe.  The US Ambassador, based in Gabon, is accredited to
Sao Tome on a non-resident basis.  The Ambassador and embassy staff make
regular visits to the islands.  The first Sao Tomean Ambassador to the
United States, resident in New York City, was accredited in 1985.  In
1986, Sao Tomean President da Costa visited the United States and met
with Vice President Bush.
 The United States has funded projects aimed at training managers on
cocoa plantations and has contributed food commodities through the UN
World Food Program. In addition, the
United States has a program to develop and support farmers'
cooperatives.  A small Peace Corps program in health education was
inaugurated in October 1990.  The United States, through the Human
Rights Fund, provided communications equipment and an election expert to
help organize Sao Tome and Principe's 1991 multi-party legislative and
presidential elections.

Principal US Officials
Ambassador--Keith L. Wauchope
Deputy Chief of Mission--Stephen G. Brundage
Political Officer--Alexander Andrews
Economic/Commercial Officer--Matthew Rooney
Consular Officer--Melissa Kehoe
Public Affairs Officer--Jan Hartman

 The US Embassy in Gabon is located on the Boulevard de la Mer, B.P.
4000, Libreville, Gabon (tel: [phone]; fax: [phone]).

Travel Notes
 Customs:  Obtain visas in advance from a Sao Tomean Embassy. A
vaccination certificate against yellow fever is required of all visitors
except those arriving from a non-infected area and who stay for less
than 2 weeks. Health requirements change; check latest information.
 Climate and clothing: Lightweight, washable clothing is recommended
year round.  At higher altitudes in the interior, evenings can be cool
enough for sweaters.
 Health: Tapwater is not potable; boil drinking water.  Avoid raw
vegetables and undercooked meats.  Take malaria pills starting 3 weeks

before arrival.  The islands have adequate hospital facilities for
common ailments.
 Telecommunications: Telephone and telegraph link the islands with
Europe and, more recently, with the African mainland at Gabon, although
in the latter case connections are often difficult. A radio network also
connects the Sao Tomean government with its representative in
Libreville. Sao Tome is four standard time zones ahead of eastern
standard time.
 Transportation:  Regular air service from Libreville is limited to four
weekly flights by Equatorial Airlines.  Charter aircraft also are
available. The Angolan national airline, TAAG, has two flights weekly
from Luanda. Taxi service is available.  The Portuguese national
airline, TAP, has one flight monthly from Lisbon. There are two flights
a week from Sao Tome to Principe, but most transportation between the
islands is by boat.
 National holidays: Businesses may be closed on the following official
holidays Martyrs' Day,   February 4;  Independence/National Day, July
12; Armed Forces Day,  First week in September (varies); Farmers' Day,
September 30.

 For information on economic trends, commercial development, production,
trade regulations, and tariff rates, contact the International Trade
Administration, US Department of Commerce, Washington, DC, 20230 or any
Commerce Department district office.  (###)


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