António Mascarenhas Monteiro

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"Antonio Monteiro" redirects here. For the Foreign Minister of Guinea-Bissau, see Antonio Isaac Monteiro.

António Mascarenhas Monteiro (born February 16, 1944 in Santa Catarina, Cape Verde) was the President of Cape Verde from March 22, 1991 to March 22, 2001.

[edit] Presidency of Cape Verde

Affiliated with the Movement for Democracy, he was the first president elected in a multi-party election in the country. He was re-elected in 1996, receiving 80% of the vote. He did not run for a third five-year term in 2001. He was succeeded by Pedro Pires.

[edit] East Timor controversy

On 19 September 2006, it was announced that Monteiro would succeed Sukehiro Hasegawa as head of the United Nations mission in East Timor. [1] The appointment was criticised in East Timor, partly because Monteiro had a poor knowledge of English. [2] It was reported that Timorese president Xanana Gusmão was among those who expressed their concern about the appointment. [3]

On 25 September, Monteiro announced that he had changed his mind and would not be accepting the position. He told journalists that "I told the deputy Secretary-General that I already knew that there were reservations about my name on the part of parties engaged in East Timor and that I was no longer interested in serving there." [4][5] He explained that "the functions of a representative of the UN Secretary-General in East Timor are very broad and must be exercised with the goodwill of all parties involved." [6] Therefore, "it is better to stand down now than to create problems later on, especially in view of the complexity of the situation in East Timor." [7]

Preceded by: Aristides Pereira

President of Cape Verde 1991–2001

Succeeded by: Pedro Pires

Presidents of Cape Verde
Aristides Pereira • António Mascarenhas Monteiro • Pedro Pires