U
UNION AFRICAINE
AFRICAN UNION
U
UNIÃO AFRIICANA
Addis Ababa, Eth
hiopia P.O.B
Box: 3243 Teel.: (251‐11) 5
551 38 22 Fax: (251‐11) 551 93 21 Email: situationro
oom@africa‐u
union.org PRESS RELEAS
SE
THE
E AU REI
ITERATES
S ITS RE
EADINESS
S TO ASS
SIST EGY
YPT TO
BUIL
LD CONSE
ENSUS ON
O THE C
CHALLENG
GES FACI
ING IT AND
A
ON
EARLY RESTORA
R
ATION OF
F CONST
TITUTION
NAL ORDER
AU Peace
P
and Security
y Council to
t meet tomorrow
t
Addis Ab
baba, 4 July 2013: The Chairperson C
o
of the Comm
mission of th
he African Union (AU), Dr. D
Nkosazana Dlamini‐Zuma, continuees to follow cclosely the evvolution of th
he situation in
n Egypt, whicch last night witnessed th
he overthrow of the electeed President M
Mohammed Morsi by the Army, and th
he appointm
ment and sweaaring in of a ccaretaker Heaad of State. The Chairrperson of the Commission recalls th
hat the AU fully supportted the aspirations of th
he Egyptian p
people as exp
pressed durin
ng the Februaary 2011 Revo
olution. She rreiterates herr view that it is the respo
onsibility of all Egyptian leaders to work towarrds the fulfillment of these legitimatte aspiration
ns. At the sam
me time, the C
Chairperson iss deeply troubled by the eevents taking place in Egyp
pt. While reccognizing the tremendous challenges th
hat faced the Egyptian peo
ople over thee past year an
nd the grow
wing frustration of manyy of them over the man
nagement off the countrry, marked by b
cumulativve economic difficulties, rising and wid
despread inseecurity, politiical and sociaal polarization, as well ass the lack of consensus on
n the way forward, the Chairperson of the Commission observees that the rremoval of Prresident Moh
hammed Morrsi was in vio
olation of thee provisions o
of the Egyptiaan Constitutiion and falls u
under the AU doctrine on unconstitutio
onal changes of Governme
ent. The Comm
mission will provide an update u
on the situation to
o a meeting of the Peacee and Security Council (P
PSC) schedule
ed to take plaace tomorrow
w, 5 July 2013, at which thee PSC will deliberate on th
he situation in Egypt and
d take the reequired decissions on the basis of thee relevant AU
U instrumentts, including the African C
Charter on Deemocracy, Eleections and G
Governance, tthe Algiers Deecision and th
he Lomé Decclaration. In the meeantime, the Chairperson of the Comm
mission reiteraates her call tto all Egyptian stakeholders to embrace the spirit of dialogue and a mutual aaccommodation and to esschew violence and acts of o
revenge aand retributio
on, in order tto find a conssensual solutiion to the current crisis and consolidatte the gainss made in the ongoing democratic process in their t
countryy. The Chairp
person of th
he Commission is also planning to disp
patch a team of eminent personalities tto Egypt to intteract with th
he ruling autthorities and other Egyptian stakehold
ders, as theyy work towards a transitio
on that should lead to an
n early return to constitutional order.