The African Union (AU) High-Level Panel Delegation to Egypt visited the country from 28 August to 3 September in the wake of pronouncements by the AU Peace and Security Council (PSC) on the latest political developments in Egypt. Leading the AU delegation if former Malian president Alpha Oumar Konare. Some African governments believe that a military coup has taken place in Egypt and that this is unacceptable in a country that is a founding member of the Organisation of African Unity, now the AU, and that has an especially important position on the continent as the second most populous African country after Nigeria. The PSC mission was part of the AU's endeavours to assist Egypt in overcoming its present political predicaments. Egypt is also one of the five major funding nations that provide the AU with its budget for various political, economic and social projects. Egypt is also instrumental in keeping the peace in several conflict zones on the African continent, and the PSC visited Egypt in the spirit of African solidarity in a search for solutions to African challenges. The AU team made it clear that it did not intend to interfere in Egyptian domestic affairs, but that it was visiting Egypt in a bid to consolidate peace and security in the country. The AU High-Level Panel was appointed by former South African foreign minister Nkosazana Zuma, the AU Commission chairperson, on 8 July, and it held its inaugural meeting on 16 July in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. In Egypt, the PSC mission met with members of the interim government and with representatives of various political parties, including the Muslim Brotherhood group. The major concern of the Egyptian authorities was to reassure the AU team that what occurred in the aftermath of the 30 June Revolution did not amount to a military coup and that Egypt was determined to go ahead with moves towards a pluralistic multi-party democracy. The interim government, the Egyptian authorities assured the AU delegation, was a government of technocrats. The quest to restore fully-fledged democracy to the country, the delegation was told, chastened by decades of indirect military rule and the year-long misrule of the Muslim Brotherhood, was as urgent as ever. While in Egypt, the AU delegation met with Prime Minister Hazem Al-Beblawi and Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmi, as well as with Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Al-Arabi. The AU delegation also met with reprentatives of Al-Nour Party and the incarcerated deputy of the Muslim Brotherhood's Supreme Guide Khayrat Al-Shater. A main aim of the visit was to assess the situation in the country, and so members of the delegation also met with members of the Coptic Church and with members of Al-Azhar, the country's highest Sunni Muslim institution. “We need to keep negotiating and make the Brotherhood understand that it needs to be on board during the transitional period,” said one Church leader upon meeting the AU delegation. He was referring to the roadmap put forward by the interim government after the ouster of former president Mohamed Morsi in July. “They have been throwing stones and molotov cocktails at the church and have destroyed the car of the reverend Ehab Ayoub, the priest-in-charge at Saint Saviour's Church. There have been attacks on other Coptic churches in Minya and Sohag in Upper Egypt, as well as on a Catholic church in Suez. Please pray and ask others to pray for an end to this situation in Egypt,” the Church official told the delegation. Muslim Brotherhood leaders have urged their supporters in various Egyptian cities to attack police stations, seize weapons and plunder shops and churches. But during their visit to Egypt, the AU officials called for reconciliation, with Diletta Mohamed Diletta, a former prime minister of Djibouti and a member of the AU delegation, saying that “it is important and necessary that the Muslim Brotherhood participate in the political process in Egypt.” The delegation stressed that Egypt needed to show faith in democracy, while Egyptian officials said that it was important that the AU understand the fear and resentment among the Egyptian population that had led to the ousting of the Brotherhood. The AU delegation needed to understand that Egypt was struggling to repair the damage left behind by the Muslim Brotherhood's misrule, officials said. The problems affecting Egypt count for more than just local difficulties, and they could have wider African implications. However, just as Egyptian officials in the post-Brotherhood period are more aware of the importance of Africa to the country, it is also essential that the AU now act in accordance with responsible decisions regarding the future of Egypt and the African continent.
