AU to re-admit Egypt

Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi, new president of Egypt

“Following the constitutional referendum and the presidential election, the council decided to lift the sanction on Egypt,’’ Mr. Katende said.
The African Union, AU, says it will re-admit the Arab Republic of Egypt following the election of a ‘democratic’ president in the country.
The AU Peace and Security Council announced this on Tuesday in Addis Ababa after a meeting of the council presided over by Mull Katende of Uganda.
“Following the constitutional referendum and the presidential election, the council decided to lift the sanction on Egypt,’’ Mr. Katende said.
According to him, the AU will re-admit Egypt during its summit in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, from June 26 to June 27.
He said the council had earlier received the report of the Omar Konare-led AU Panel on Egypt which recommended the re-admission of Egypt following the election of President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi as the country’s new leader.
Egypt’s membership of the AU was suspended on July 5, 2013.
The suspension followed the announcement by Al-Sisi, who was the Minister of Defence for the country then, that he had overthrown former President Mohammed Morsi.
The council viewed the development as “unconstitutional’’, violating the AU charter and placed Egypt on suspension from the union’s activities.
Mr. Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president, is still in prison while millions of his supporters, members of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, were barred from the polls as the party was banned.