Still active days before he finally steps down, president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has sworn in new military chiefs.
General João Cartaxo Alves is the new Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces (CEMGFA); Lieutenant General Sérgio Costa Pereira succeeds Cartaxo Alves as head of the Air Force – and General Eduardo Mendes Ferrão is reappointed Chief of Staff of the Army for another two years.
These appointments were all communicated to the president by the government after the council of ministers approved what is essentially a general shuffle of names last Friday.
The inauguration took place at Belém Palace yesterday evening.
Lusa recalls that the appointment of pilot Cartaxo Alves represents the return of an Air Force officer to this command post, following the departure twelve years ago of General Luís Esteves de Araújo.
General Cartaxo Alves succeeds General José Nunes da Fonseca, an Army officer, who held the position since 2023 and whose term ended on March 1.
The Organic Law on the Basic Organisation of the Armed Forces (LOBOFA) establishes that the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces (CEMGFA) and the military chiefs of the branches are appointed and dismissed by the President of the Republic, upon proposal of the government, after consultation with the superior military councils.
Accepting his new appointment, General Cartaxo Alves spoke of his ‘honour, humility and high sense of responsibility”, emphasising that “the future demands increasingly interoperable technologically advanced Armed Forces, with increased mobility, connectivity, and oriented towards innovation”.
Source material: LUSA
