Professional Experience and Activities:

• 1974-1977: Researcher, University Center of Public Law, Belgium

• 1974-1977: Faculty Assistant, Catholic University of Louvain

• 1977-1980: Secretary-General of the People's National Assembly of Cape Verde;
  Founder of the Cape Verdean Bar Association

• 1980-1990: President of the Supreme Court. In this capacity he headed most of the delegations which represented Cape Verde in major Judicial events of that decade, namely:
  

  • OAU Coferences that drafted and aproved
    the African Charter on People and Human Rights;

  • Addis Ababa Conference to revise the OAU Charter;

  • Human Rights Conferences: Nairobi, Kenya; Strasbourg, France; and Bologna, Italy.

  • International Law Symposia: Coimbra, Portugal; Utrecht, Netherlands.

• 1990: Candidate for President of the Republic of Cape Verde (non-partisan)

• 1991: First democraticaly elected President of the Republic of Cape Verde (February 17, 1995)

• 1992: Inauguration (March 23, 1991)

• 1992-Present: As Head of State he continued to participate in several actions promoted by the International Community:

  • Third Conference on Regional System of Human Rights Protection in Africa and Europe, Strasbourg/France (He presented a communication on Human Rights, Democracy and Development in this Conference promoted by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation of Germany);

  • Member of the OAU Mission of Goodwill to Angola after the first free elections in this country togheter with President Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Secretary-General of the OAU, Salim Ahmed Salim (December 1992);

  • Chairman of the Colloquium on Constitutional Transitions in Africa (Louvain University, 1993);

  • As Vice-President of the OAU A-Hoc Committee for Southern Africa and Head of State of one of the Portuguese-Speaking Countries in Africa, he participated in Ceremony of the signing of the Lusaka Protocol for Peace in Angola.
• 1994-1996: President of the Committee for the Strugle Against Drought and Desertification in the Sahel (CILSS).

• 1996-1998: Reelected President of CILSS.

Publications:

• "Reflections sur la competence d'un gouvernment demissionaire", published in the "Revue de l"Administration Publique", Brussels, 1977;

• "La notion de l'expedition des affaires courantes", in Res Publica, Brussels, 1977;
• "La Charte Africaine des Droits de l'Homme et des Peuples", in Judicia protection of human rights at national and international levels, Milano, Dott. A. Giuffere Editore, 1991.

Decorations:

• "Grande Colar da Ordem da Liberdade" of Portugal (awarded by President Mario Soares in recognition of his personal contribution to liberty and democracy in Cape Verde);

• "Grand Croix de l'Ordre National du Lion" of Senegal (awarded by President Abdou Diouf in recognition of his contribution to the strengthening of the relations between Senegal and Cape Verde, preservation of peace in Africa and development of the South/South cooperation.

This page maintained by Jose Eduardo Barbosa - jose_eduardo@msn.com