Miguel dos Anjous da Cunha Lijboa Trovoada ( port. Miguel dos Anjos da Cunha Lisboa Trovoada ) (born 1936 , city of Sao Tome , Sao Tome and Principe ) - former first prime minister ( 1975 - 1979 ) and second president ( 1991 - 2001 ) of the Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe , currently Executive Secretary of the Gulf of Guinea Commission.
Miguel dos Anjus da Cunha Lijboa Trovoada | |||||||
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Miguel dos anjos da cunha lisboa trovoada | |||||||
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Predecessor | Manuel Pinto da Costa | ||||||
Successor | Fradike de Menezes | ||||||
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Predecessor | Leonel Mario D'Alva (as head of the colony government) | ||||||
Successor | post canceled Celestine Rocha da Costa (in 1988 ) | ||||||
Birth | December 27, 1936 (82 years) Sao Tome , Sao Tome and Principe | ||||||
Children | Patrice Trovoada | ||||||
The consignment | Independent Democratic Action (ADI) | ||||||
Education | |||||||
Awards |
Born in San-Tome , graduated from school in Angola , studied law at the University of Lisbon ( Portugal ). In 1960, with his former classmate Manuel Pinto da Costa , he founded the Sao Tome and Principe Liberation Committee (from 1972 - the Sao Tome and Principe Liberation Movement ) was its foreign affairs director from 1961 to 1975, and in 1972 he was recognized as the MLSF African Unity (OAU) .
After the independence of Sao Tome and Principe, on July 12, 1975, became the first Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe until March 1979 . Relations with President Manuel Pinto da Costa were constantly deteriorating and reached their climax in March 1979 , when the President removed Trovoada from his post, appointed Minister of Industry, Construction and Fisheries, and at the end of the year he was accused of anti-government conspiracy and imprisoned. After 21 months in prison, Trovoada went into exile in France . [one]
In May 1990 , after the adoption of the democratic constitution of Sao Tome and Principe, he returned to the country and joined the presidential campaign. In 1991 he was elected president in the first multi-party elections, re-elected in 1996 . When elected president, he was not a member of any of the parties, but at the end of the first term he created a new political party - Independent Democratic Action (ADI).
Due to the fact that under the constitution, Sao Tome and Principe was a semi-presidential republic, with a strong prime minister’s power, the entire cadence of Trovoada was opposed by the president and the parliament, who nominated the prime minister and almost all the time the opposition. An attempt to find a way out of the deep political crisis that has been going on for years was the Forum of National Unity and Reconstruction, which was supposed to offer ways to resolve the political crisis. The forum was held March 27-30, 1998 and gathered about 600 delegates, including 55 members of parliament. Although the Forum was convened by Trovoada, participants pointed out that the president’s authority was too broad. The general decision was to organize an audit of the constitution and establish a transitional period during which the coalition government was to work. As a tool for the normalization of power in the country, the redistribution of powers in the direction of a greater strengthening of parliament was considered. Representatives of Trovoada managed to sabotage the decisions of the Forum and the reform of the statehood of the government was not carried out [2] .
In the field of economics, a liberal policy was pursued under the leadership of the IMF. It led to a significant drop in the standard of living, an increase in the prices of food, gasoline and the devaluation of the national currency by 40% already in the first years of the rule of Trovoad. Subsequently, the difficult economic situation and the political crisis led to a military coup on August 15, 1995. The immediate cause of the coup was a long, 6-month delay in the soldiers' salary, poor supply and living conditions of the soldiers. Junior Lieutenant Manuel Quintas de Almeida was proclaimed head of the Junta of National Salvation. However, under pressure from the international community, the military returned power to Trovoade already on August 22 [2] .
The presidential elections, originally scheduled for March 1996, were eventually postponed for several months due to the inability of the authorities to register voters. Finally, on June 30, the first, and on July 21, the second round of elections took place. The winner was Trovoada with a score of 52.7%, which, against the background of a nervous political situation, gave rise to suspicions of falsifying the results [2] .
Full dependence on foreign aid, galloping inflation and a huge foreign debt forced the authorities in 1997 to turn to the IMF. However, the authorities of Sao Tome and Principe failed to comply with the recommendations of the bank, and in early 1998 they were denied assistance. The agreement was reached in 2000 and the country wrote off 2/3 of the external debt (about $ 200 million) [2] .
The board of Trovoada was characterized by a high level of corruption. The president himself was accused of having recognized the Republic of China (Taiwan) in 1997 in exchange for a bribe. This step immediately led to the rupture of diplomatic relations with the PRC, and Sao Tome and Principe was forced to immediately repay $ 17 million in debt to China [2] .
After the termination of powers, Trovoada takes part in international missions, mainly in the Portuguese-speaking countries of Africa. In 2009-2014, he was the Executive Secretary of the Gulf of Guinea Commission; in 2014-2016, he was Special Envoy and Head of the United Nations Mission for the Restoration of Peace in Guinea-Bissau. In August 2017, Trovoada headed the observer mission of the community of Portuguese-speaking countries in the election of the President of Angola [2] .
Notes
- ↑ Trovoada Miguel dos Anjos da Cunha Lisboa
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 Kusov, Vitaly . Miguel Trovoada: President of Sao Tome and Principe, biography (Rus.) , Rulers of Africa: XXI century . The appeal date is April 21, 2018.