The President of São Tomé and Príncipe, Manuel Pinto da Costa, and the President of Mauritania, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, as well as the Prime Minister of Guinea Bissau, Carlos Gomes Jr., are among the foreign officials who will be present at the inauguration of Jorge Carlos Fonseca as Cape Verde’s fourth President of the Republic. The ceremony takes place today during an extraordinary session of the National Assembly presided over by parliamentary speaker Basílio Mosso Ramos.

Cape Verde will turn yet another page in its history today when outgoing President Pedro Pires hands the nation’s highest office over to the country’s new head of state and supreme commander of the Armed Forces, Jorge Carlos Fonseca. Attending the ceremony will be legislators, distinguished guests from other countries, diplomats and many anonymous citizens.

São Tomé and Príncipe and Mauritania are the only countries represented on the highest possible level, by their respective heads of state, Manuel Pinto da Costa and Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz. The Gambia is being represented by its vice-president, Isatou Njie-Saidy. Guinea Bissau, meanwhile, will be represented by Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Jr. and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, as President Malam Bacai Sanhá is ill.

The heads of state of most of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) states will not be present. Portugal has sent its Minister of State and Finances, Vítor Gaspar, while Angola has sent its Minister of Industry, Joaquim David. Mozambique is represented by its Minister of Commerce and Tourism, while as of this writing Brazil had yet to name the person who will represent President Dilma Rousseff. East Timor will not be represented.

CPLP executive secretary Domingos Simões Pereira, however, has confirmed his presence, and Morocco will be represented by a government minister. The IDC has sent its executive coordinator for Africa, Alberto Ruiz Tiery. As of this writing, confirmation from the President of Togo and a representative of Ivory Coast was still being awaited.

Following the ceremony in the National Assembly, a lunch will be given for the heads of state present, while a cocktail reception will be held this evening at the Presidential Palace in Praia’s central Plateau district.