ABSTRACT
The "coup of sixty rifles" was engineered by René, in collaboration with Julius Nyerere, president of Tanzania. Both Rene and Nyerere had been appalled at the lifestyle of Mancham, who had gained an international reputation as a playboy. They also resented his close ties to Western capitalist interests and the freewheeling free-enterprise economy he had instituted in the Seychelles. Mancham was so tied to the Western capitalist world that he and his Seychelles Democratic party had even advocated until 1974 that the Seychelles remain a part of Great Britain rather than seek independent nationhood. The Seychelles People's Progressive Front, the new name of Seychelles People's United party after René's attempt to combine all political parties in his one-party system, has openly set itself against a free press. The unquestioned leader of the new government is René, who, like Mancham, is a London-trained lawyer.
