Fradique Melo Bandeira de Menezes
President

(pronounced "fra-DEEK MAY-low bahn-DARE-ah duh mehn-EEZ-ess")

"If you think I'm going to be merely a ceremonial figure, you are mistaken."

The Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe consists of two islands, São Tomé and Príncipe, located off Africa's west coast. Combined, the two islands comprise 964 sq km (372 sq mi), making it second only to the Seychelles Islands as Africa's smallest nation. Its nearest neighbors to the east are Cameroon, Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea. The islands form part of a chain of extinct volcanoes and are both quite mountainous. The climate is tropical, but temperatures vary a good deal with altitude. Coastal temperatures average...