WASHINGTON (AP) - President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration next week will be a landmark event in world history, but don't look for any foreign leaders in the crowds expected to throng the ceremony. They're not invited.
The State Department last week informed all foreign embassies in Washington that, in keeping with past practice, their ambassadors and spouses can come to the event to represent their countries. Officials from their capitals, however, must stay home.
"These invitations are only for the chiefs of diplomatic missions and their spouses and are not transferable," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wrote in a diplomatic note sent to the embassies on Jan. 6.
An earlier note, sent by Rice to the embassies on Nov. 24, says the exclusion of foreign leaders and top government officials is customary for U.S. presidential inaugurations. "As in the past, foreign delegations will not be invited to Washington for this occasion," it said.
Copies of both notes were obtained by The Associated Press on Monday.
Officials said foreign leaders are traditionally discouraged from attending inaugurations due to enormous crowds and security concerns.
Foreign ambassadors and their spouses are invited to sit in reserved seats at the Capitol for Obama's swearing-in ceremony on Tuesday and in a reviewing stand across the street from the White House for the inaugural parade. They are also invited to attend a diplomatic luncheon and the official New England inaugural ball to be held at Union Station.
On Wednesday, the envoys are invited to a prayer service at Washington National Cathedral. The State Department will provide bus transportation to all events except the ball, the notes say.
