Sao Tome, July 19: Bowing to intense international pressure, the leaders of a military coup in this oil-rich West African nation have agreed to meet with foreign envoys to discuss ways of resolving the tiny country's crisis.
Other countries and the World Bank had threatened the rebellious troops with diplomatic isolation, cuts in vital aid and, possibly, military intervention to force them back to barracks.

Maj Fernando Pereira, who heads a three-man junta installed after Wednesday's bloodless coup, on Friday asked the US, Nigeria and a delegation from Portuguese-speaking countries "to find a solution to the crisis."

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Pereira, an artillery officer, did not specify if he was willing to back down and allow restoration of civilian rule, nor did he specify a timeframe for talks.

Sao Tome, a former Portuguese colony of about 140,000 people, lies in the Gulf of Guinea, a region of growing importance to the US and other nations as a source of oil.

President Fradique de Menezes, still in Nigeria where he was on a visit when the coup occurred, accused the mutinous troops of being fired up "by the smell of oil," which is expected bring an economic surge when it comes on line in about four years.

The deposed president held talks in Nigeria's capital Abuja on Friday with Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and his Mozambique counterpart Joachim Chissano.

Representatives of the central African nations and Portugal's four other former colonies in Africa will meet "in coming days" in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo to choose a multinational delegation to hold talks with the rebels, Menezes said. Bureau Report