AU TO UNFREEZE EGYPT MEMBERSHIP AFTER ELECTION

Cairo, 27 Rajab 1435/26 May 2014 (MINA) – The head of the African Union’s election observer mission said preparations to unfreeze Egypt’s membership of the AU will begin after the presidential election

“The AU’s mission has sensed responsiveness and facilities provided by Egyptian authorities for it to operate,” said Mohamed Lemine Ould Guig, the former prime minister of Mauritania, in a press statement as quoted by Egypt’s Ahram and Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA).

Guig’s comments came after he was received by Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy.

He added that initial remarks on the presidential poll, which will take place on Monday and Tuesday, would be announced at a press conference in Cairo on 28 May.

“The results we’re hoping for is for the Egyptian people to elect a president and exit this transitional phase” and for “Egypt [to] regain its status in the African Union.”

The AU’s mission arrived in Egypt last week upon an invitation from the interim authorities.

Egypt was suspended from the AU after the ouster of Mohamed Morsi, the first democratically elected president of the country, until it could restore “constitutional order.”

It is the AU’s policy to suspend any member state if it undergoes an “unconstitutional” change of government.

The Council suspended Egypt’s AU membership on July 5, 2013, two days after the ouster of Morsi, saying the overthrow of Morsi was “unconstitutional”.

Lamamra, who used to be the chairman of the Council, noted that freezing Egypt’s membership “was a precautionary measure intended to encourage it to restore work with the constitution in Egypt”.

“Algeria has never participated in the isolation of any African country suffering from political instability,” Lamamra said. “Nobody can give lessons to Algeria in this matter.”

Lamamra stressed that Algeria does not interfere in Egypt’s internal affairs and hopes that Egyptians come out of the ordeal.(T/P03/E01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)