LISBON, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- New chief of staff of the Portuguese army Jose Nunes da Fonseca was sworn in Friday at the presidential palace in Lisbon.
Nunes da Fonseca was sworn in by Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa at a ceremony with the presence of Prime Minister Antonio Costa.
Earlier in the day, Costa, who was attending a meeting of the European Council in Brussels, announced his proposal to the president to appoint Nunes da Fonseca as new army chief and the president accepted.
The sworn-in ceremony took place two days after General Francisco Jose Rovisco Duarte resigned, citing personal reasons, from his position as chief of staff of the Portuguese army.
Rovisco Duarte had been appointed by then Minister of Defense Jose Azeredo Lopes, who himself resigned less than a week before over the Tancos weapons theft scandal.
A descendant of a military family, Nunes da Fonseca was born in Mafra, district of Lisbon, in 1961. He studied at the Pupilos Institute of the Army and later at the Military Academy where he studied Engineering and graduated in 1979.
