East Bloc Help Called Inadequate : Sao Tome and Principe Seeks West’s Aid

SAO TOME —  After a decade of ties with the East Bloc following independence from Portugal, the tiny two-island nation of Sao Tome and Principe off Africa wants development aid from the West, government officials say.

Chiefly, they would like agriculture assistance.

The annual cocoa production, the principal source of hard currency, has dropped from 10,000 tons at the time of independence from Portugal in 1975 to 4,000 tons.

“They’re turning west because the East hasn’t given them what they want,” said one of the few Western diplomats here, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Perched atop extinct volcanoes in the Gulf of Guinea 225 miles off Gabon, Sao Tome and Principe is lush and mountainous; agriculture is its main source of revenue.

It turned to the Soviet Bloc for help after independence from Portugal but the assistance has mainly been in the form of military aid.

Embracing Nonalignment

However, President Manuel Pinto da Costa told reporters during a summit conference here in February of five former Portuguese African colonies that nonalignment “is the pillar of our foreign policy.”

The officials who spoke of seeking Western aid said the government was trying to cast off its image in Portugal and other areas as a Soviet client.

The officials are members of the governing Sao Tome and Principe Liberation Movement Party, and they discussed the government’s new direction only on condition of anonymity.

“Others call us Marxists but we don’t think of ourselves as such,” one of the officials said.

Another confirmed the presence of Soviet, Cuban and Angolan advisers in the country’s armed forces, estimated at around 1,500 men.

But he also said the nation of 100,000 people has free medical care and schooling for everyone because of 100 doctors, nurses and teachers sent here by Cuba.

At the end of their independence wars against Portugal, Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, and Guinea-Bissau also accepted offers of Soviet aid in return for political support and possible strategic bases.

No Soviet Bases

The Western diplomat, discounting reports in the Portuguese press, said there are no Soviet military bases on either of the islands.

With the exception of the Cuban doctors and teachers, most East Bloc aid to Sao Tome and Principe seems to have favored the donors.

While the Soviet Union has sent occasional shipments of rice and sugar, there have been no significant Soviet development projects in the country, where per capita income is estimated at $370 a year, among the lowest in the world.

A Soviet community believed to number 120 people includes military advisers and crews for two reconnaissance aircraft and patrol boats donated by Moscow for the islands’ defense, as well as maintenance technicians at two radar stations on Sao Tome, the Western diplomat said.

He added that the planes do not fly very often because they use highly refined fuel not available here. He speculated that both the planes and the patrol boats, as well as the mobile radar units, are used for surveillance of regional maritime traffic.

France Grants Loans

France, the largest source of Western aid at present, grants Sao Tome about $10 million a year, mainly long-term, interest-free loans to help keep the country running.