The leader of a bloodless coup in the tiny West African nation of Guinea-Bissau will try to persuade African ministers on Monday that ousted President Kumba Yalla does not deserve to return to power.

Foreign ministers from five West African nations were due to jet into the impoverished former Portuguese colony for talks with General Verissimo Correia Seabra, who declared himself interim president after Sunday's coup.

A regional official said the ministers were also hoping to see Yalla, who has been at army headquarters with Prime Minister Mario Pires since the pre-dawn putsch started.

African leaders have condemned the coup -- the third attempt to oust Yalla since he came to power in 2000 -- but Mozambique's President Joaquim Chissano also criticized the president for failing to address the crippled economy or promote democracy.

Guinea-Bissau, about the size of Taiwan, is one of the world's poorest nations with a population of some 1.3 million, scraping by on an average $170 a year each. It has been gripped by an economic crisis since a 1998-1999 army revolt.

Correia Seabra and many of the leaders of Sunday's coup were also involved in an earlier revolt. The coup leaders, who said they had no choice but to act, were due to meet members of the government on Monday.

WITHOUT A SHOT

Correia Seabra said Yalla, who often sports a red woolen hat, could go into exile or stay.

Unlike a 1998 army revolt which claimed hundreds of lives, Sunday's coup took place without a shot being fired, Correia Seabra said. The city was quiet as a dusk-to-dawn curfew took effect, and soldiers patrolled Bissau's streets.

The army has set up a military committee to restore democracy but has not set a date for elections.

Correia Seabra said a "credible civilian" would head the interim government and he promised to explain the reasons for the coup to regional organizations, such as the African Union.

He also said on Sunday that he expected international groups to recognize that Yalla's government had no legality.

A former philosophy professor, Yalla came to power in 2000 after a poll designed to end chronic unrest following the 1998 revolt. He survived two coup attempts and reshuffled his government several times.

Relations between Yalla, the army and parliament have been tense since he sacked his first premier at the end of 2001.

Critics then accused him of targeting Muslims, who make up 45 percent of Guinea-Bissau's population and come from the Malinke ethnic group. The army's top brass and key ministers belong to Yalla's Balante ethnic group, the country's biggest.

Yalla dissolved the government in November 2002 and called for new parliamentary elections. But he postponed the polls for a third time in June, saying voter records were incomplete. The latest date set for the poll was October 12.

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