Addis Ababa — The AU suspended Egypt from all its activities Friday after the Egyptian military overthrew the elected president, Mohamed Morsi, a senior AU official said.
“As mandated by the relevant AU instruments, the AU Peace and Security Council decided to suspend the participation of Egypt in AU activities until the restoration of constitutional order,” said Admore Kambudzi, secretary of the council.
Suspension is the AU’s usual response to any interruption of constitutional rule by a member state. In March it suspended the Central African Republic after rebels overthrew the government.
In recent years, it has meted out similar treatment to Madagascar and Mali, although Mali’s suspension has since been lifted.
Tunisia and Turkey were among Muslim countries to denounce Morsi’s overthrow as a coup.
The U.S. and EU refrained from using that description but called for a swift return to democratic rule. Following the swearing-in of Adli Mansour on Thursday as interim head of state, the next step in the Egyptian army’s “road map” back to democracy is the formation of an interim government in the next few days. One state newspaper said it should be ready on Sunday.
The AU announced the suspension of Egypt from the activities of the union indefinitely for unconstitutional change of government by the military authorities, the News Agency of Agency (NAN) reports.
The suspension was announced by the AU Peace and Security Council (PSC) in a communique after its emergency meeting on Friday in Addis Ababa.
It would be recalled that Egypt’s military toppled the country’s first democratically elected president on Wednesday night and reportedly put him under house arrest while rounding up some of his top supporters following a mass protest against the President by Egyptians. Morsi was elected president of Egypt on June 17, 2012.
Chairperson of AU Commission, Dr Dlamini Zuma told newsmen after a communique was read by the PSC secretary, Dr Adamore Kambudzi that the suspension was in accordance with the provisions of the AU charter and resolutions.
Zuma said the AU would encourage dialogue and expected nothing less than an immediate road map for the return to the path of democracy and the rule of law.
According to the communique, Article 23 of AU charter on Democracy and good governance states that:“State Parties agree that, the use of inter alia the following illegal means of accessing or maintaining power constitutes an unconstitutional change of government and shall draw appropriate sanctions by the Union.
“Any putsch or coup d’état against a democratically elected government, any intervention by mercenaries to replace a democratically elected government, any replacement of a democratically elected government by armed dissidents or rebels s unconstitutional.”
Egypt’s Chief Justice Adli Mansour was sworn in as Interim president after the military take over.
NAN reports hundreds of thousands of people believed to Morsi’s supporters took to the streets across Egypt over the military’s actions saying its “a coup and condemned its celebration as a “correction” by his opponents.
Reports say at least eight people were killed and more than 350 others wounded in the protests between the supporters of the opposition and the military.
Egypt’s top military officer, Gen. Abdel-Fatah El-Sisi, said in a televised broadcast to the nation that Morsi “did not achieve the goals of the people” and failed to meet the demands for power sharing with the opposition.
Three countries have so far been banned because of unconstitutional change of power in these include Madagascar, banned following the overthrow in March 2009 of President Marc Ravalomanana.
The AU suspended Guinea Bissau because of the 2012 coup d’état in that country and Central Africa Republic, CAR, for an armed insurgency in 2013.
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