The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, New York

French President Nicolas Sarkozy's ex-wife is to marry her Moroccan-born lover at New York's glitzy Rainbow Room on Sunday, according to a programme of the celebrations seen by AFP.

Cecilia Ciganer-Albeniz and Richard Attias, a multi-millionaire events organiser, were to tie the knot at a black tie ceremony at 7 pm (2300 GMT) attended by 150 guests, many of whom flew in from Europe for the nuptials.

The 65th-floor Rainbow Room is one of the best-known establishments in New York. Part of the Art Deco Rockefeller Center dating from the 1930s, it features chandeliers, a revolving dance floor and views across Manhattan.

According to the programme, the ceremony was to be followed by cocktails and dinner at the Manhattan venue described by New York Magazine as "one place true New Yorkers expect never to visit" and catering for "easy-to- impress tourists."

Details surrounding the wedding had been shrouded in secrecy. Rumors had suggested the couple would hold a Jewish ceremony at a New York synagogue on Sunday, but there was no mention of any religious ceremony on the programme.

Guests of the couple kicked off three days of celebrations on Friday with a party at Attias's Connecticut home. On Saturday, they were treated to dinner at an upmarket 1920s steakhouse just off Broadway.

They were later due to take in the ABBA-themed Broadway show "Mamma Mia!"

According to reports, guests have been told not to bring cameras or phones with cameras, to protect the couple's privacy.

Other reports said that French magazine Paris-Match had declined an offer of exclusive rights to cover the wedding, apparently over fears of upsetting Sarkozy, known to be friends with the magazine's owner, Arnaud Lagardere.

Rumors have been circulating for weeks that Sarkozy's ex- wife, 50, was to marry Attias, 48, and Italian fashion house Versace said earlier this month it would be dressing the couple for the occasion.

Ciganer-Albeniz's involvement with Attias first became public when the couple were photographed stepping out of a New York hotel together in 2005, during a break in Ciganer-Albeniz's marriage to Sarkozy.

She later returned to Sarkozy, but the couple announced their divorce last October, ending a stormy 11-year marriage.

In February, less than four months after his divorce, Sarkozy, 53, married Carla Bruni, the Italian-born former model turned singer-songwriter.