Islands in the Sun: My Adventures in Sao Tome

Islands in the Sun:  My Adventures in Sao Tome

My third Foreign Service posting was Libreville, Gabon, on the west coast of Africa and right on the equator, a welcoming environment for a host of tropical diseases from malaria on down.  I was also accredited to Sao Tome and Principe, two small equatorial islands about 300 miles off the coast of Gabon.   Sao Tome was a former Portuguese colony and cocoa plantation with the indigenous people doing all the work.

I flew out there four times a year (on a rickety airplane with no seatbelts run by Equatorial Air) for two or three days.  I’d get interviewed on the national radio, speaking French (with a Portuguese voice over), call on the editor of the newspaper and organize a reception at the island’s one hotel.  Fairly routine stuff, except for the scary plane ride.

Once when the US Navy show band was visiting Gabon accompanying a US military official for talks on cooperation, the band decided to go to Sao Tome and give a concert.  We arrived at 3 P.m. and my job was to locate a venue and publicize a totally unannounced concert in four hours.  In the distance I heard an ompah sound and located the Sao Tome military band, dented instruments and, all in a stadium.  There was the venue.   Then I went to the radio station to publicize the event.  My hope was that people would hear the sounds of the band and come out of curiosity.   We got there, started playing and soon the stadium was full.   I was the MC, speaking in French with a Portuguese interpreter.  The whole event was a roaring success.

Another visit, however, was far from routine.   The US Ambassador to the UN at the time, Vernon Walters, was visiting Libreville for Gabon’s independence anniversary and indicated he wanted to visit Sao Tome as well.  The word was that he collected countries he’d been to and Sao Tome would be an addition to his collection.  I was asked to accompany him.

The day before we were to go, there was an “invasion” of the islands.  The “invasion” consisted of six guys in a row boat who were promptly detained.   Still even though Sao Tome was on high alert we decided to go ahead with the visit.  When we landed at the Sao Tome airport, I noticed the landing strip was surrounded by Angolan soldiers, who provided military support to the islands.

The president of Sao Tome had retreated to a hideaway in the hills, as a precaution.  Ambassador Walters and I set off.  When we arrived, we found more Angolan soldiers, presumably protecting the president, following the “invasion.”  My job was to photograph the ambassador and the president and step outside while the two talked.   I got my picture and moved out to sit down when I was promptly surrounded by the Angolan soldiers all pointing their rifles at me.   I couldn’t speak Portuguese to explain that I was with the president’s visitor.  The thirty or forty minutes I sat out there looking down the barrels of the guns were frightening.   If I tried to get up and walk around, they stiffened and motioned with their guns that I should stay put.   “Hey, I’m not a threat,” I wished I could have said.  Eventually Walters emerged and I breathed a sigh of relief as we boarded the ambassador’s car and headed back to the airport.

Libreville, Gabon, with all its tropical diseases, had suddenly become a welcome haven of safety.