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Coups d'etat of the Seychelles
The Seychelles islands were first inhabited by the French who arrived with their slaves in 1768. Spice and coconut plantations were succesfully established however the islands were annexed by the British in 1794 and were brought into the fold of the British Empire, they remained a British colony until they were granted independence in 1976.

Sir James Mancham was installed as the first president of the Seychelles with France Albert Rene as his prime minister. A year later while Mancham was in London Rene staged a successful coup against him and Mancham was to remain in exile for the next 15 years.

Rene immediately created a one party socialist state and forcefully suppressed all forms of opposition, people were imprisoned and freedom of the press was squashed. This resulted in many Seychellois going into exile in London and South Africa. There were also certain cases of prominent members of the opposition coming to harm, no one was ever charged in any of these cases but the Seychelles government was implicated. For example, Gerard Houreau one of the leaders of the oppostion was shot dead on the doorsteps of his London home in 1986 by an unknown gunman.

The Seychelles Liberation Commitee was established in Paris in 1979 and during the ensuing 12 years a number of coups were staged to overthrow Rene and restore democracy.

In November 1981 a group of South African merceneries sponsored by the South African government and made up of ex South African special forces led by Colonel Mike Hoare landed in Seychelles on a flight from Johannesburg, the mission was called Operation Anvil. They were discovered immediately on arrival and a bloody gun fight ensued at the airport between them and numerous Tanzanian soldiers who were supplied by Nyere to bolster Rene's security. The Mercenaries eventually escaped by comandeering an Air India flight back to Johannesburg.

The Seychelles were also of high strategic importance to Washington and the West in their Cold War maneuvers against the Soviet Union with one of Washington's largest overseas military bases located on the Seychelles island of Diego Garcia in addition to their substantial satellite tracking station situated on the main island of Mahe. Rene's friendship with the Soviet Union was causing increasing concern and support from the West was provided for the Seychelles opposition in their attempts to restore democracy.

In 1986 another attempt was made to overthrow Rene, this time under the name of Operation Distant Lash which supposedly had the backing of the US and UK governments. The figurehead in this attempt was Defence Minister Ogilvy Berlouis who had apparently been groomed to become the new pro western president of the Seychelles.

The final coup attempt came in 1989, with purported CIA involvement and spearheaded this time by Conrad Gresle, a prominent Seychellois business man,land owner and long time activist. This coup attempt was uncovered just hours before a team of international mercenaries were due to land on the islands. Gresle was charged with treason and imprisoned he was eventually released but died a few years later under what has been suggested to be suspicious circumstances.

In 1993 multi party elections were held for the first time in the Seychelles.