ACCESSION NUMBER:00000

FILE ID:95081503.POL

DATE:08/15/95

TITLE:STATE DEPARTMENT REPORT, TUESDAY, AUGUST 15



TEXT:

(African coup, Iran/South Africa, Fred Cuny) (680)



NEWS BRIEFING -- Deputy spokesman David Johnson discussed the

following topics:



MILITARY COUP IN SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE CONCERNS U.S.



The United States is calling on Sao Tome and Principe's military

forces to immediately return the country's democratically-elected

government to power, the deputy spokesman said.



"We're deeply concerned by today's events in Sao Tome in which

military forces have apparently overthrown the democratically-elected

government of President Miguel Trovoada," Johnson said. Sao Tome and

Principe is a tiny nation formed by two islands off the west coast of

Africa. It has a population of fewer than 125,000 and a land area of

less than 1,000 square kilometers.



"Since constitutional reform in 1990, and the first multi-party

democratic elections in 1991, Sao Tome and Principe has been a model

emerging democracy," the deputy spokesman pointed out.



"While there have been disagreements and political conflicts between

the branches of government and the National Assembly, these debates

have until now been carried out and resolved in open, democratic and

legal fora in accordance with the provisions of Sao Tomean law," he

said. "We urge the military not to abandon this fine tradition.



"We call on the military forces to immediately return power to Sao

Tome's democratically-elected government," Johnson said. "We note that

President Trovoada, his family, and members of his cabinet are being

held. We further call for their safe and humane treatment in

accordance with internationally recognized human rights standards," he

said.



If the military coup stands, the deputy spokesman noted, the United

States would be required by law to suspend assistance to Sao Tome and

Principe.



In the 1994 fiscal year, the United States provided Sao Tome and

Principe over $1 million in assistance, including food aid, economic

support funds, and bilateral assistance through the Development Fund

for Africa, he said. The country is receiving $300,000 in democracy

and human rights funds in fiscal year 1995.



The United States also maintains a Peace Corps mission of

approximately 20 volunteers there. Johnson said all Peace Corps

personnel are accounted for and they have been advised to stay in

their homes.



U.S. DISAPPOINTED BY IRAN-SOUTH AFRICA AGREEMENT



The deputy spokesman expressed U.S. disappointment over an agreement

concluded between Iran and South Africa under which Iranian oil

exports will be stored in South African facilities.



"We're certainly disappointed that the South Africans saw fit to go

forward with that contract," Johnson said. "We made clear when we took

steps to remove American companies from economic participation with

Iran that we did not believe it appropriate to support the economy of

a state dedicated to acquiring nuclear weapons and to undermining the

(Middle East) peace process.



"We will continue to work with the South Africans and other friends to

try to convince them of our point of view," he said.



ALLEGATIONS ABOUT FRED CUNY TERMED UTTERLY GROUNDLESS



The deputy spokesman rejected as "utterly groundless" allegations that

missing American relief expert Fred Cuny may be working as an

intelligence officer for the leader of the breakaway Chechen republic.



He was responding to questions about a Russian Interfax report that

Cuny is alive and working as an intelligence officer and adviser to

Dzhokhar Dudayev, the rebel Chechen leader.



"We do hope that Fred Cuny is alive, but we have no concrete evidence

indicating whether he is alive or dead," Johnson said. "We have many

unsubstantiated reports about his whereabouts, but we've found no one

who has been in a position to confirm any of them."



"Allegations that he is employed by Dudayev as an intelligence officer

and adviser are utterly groundless," the deputy spokesman declared.



An employee of the Soros Foundation, Cuny disappeared in April along

with four Russians who also worked for Soros while they were

attempting to set up a hospital in Chechnya and provide other

humanitarian services to refugees from the bitter war between the

breakaway republic and Russian forces.

NNNN