, Following the signature of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on joint business opportunities in the upstream with Shell in March 2023, on 27 December Brazil s state-controlled oil company Petrobras announced that through a competitive process conducted by Shell, it had acquired from the London-based oil major stakes of 45% each in blocks 10 and 13 and 25% interests in block 11 in the archipelago s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
, The publication of a letter from the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) to Prime Minister Patrice Trovoada condemning human rights violations following last November s failed assault on the military barracks could scarcely have been timed worse for São Tomé s leader.
, A botched attempt at revenge was the conclusion of São Tomé s Public Prosecutor following its investigation of the failed assault of the military barracks of 25 November.
, In the early hours of 25 November, heavy gunfire was heard in the military district in São Tomé when four men, Sãotomean veterans of apartheid South Africa s infamous Buffalo Battalion, assaulted the military barracks with the support of 12 soldiers within and a group outside the barracks waiting in a vehicle.
, The opposition Acção Democrática Independente (ADI) of former Prime Minister Patrice Trovoada has won the general election with 46.8% of the vote. ADI polled 45.5% in 2018. On 3 October the Constitutional Court allocated parliamentary seats on the strength of the vote giving the party 30 seats in the 55-seat chamber.