Preparations to unfreeze Egypt's AU membership after election: Observer

Preparations to unfreeze Egypt's membership of the African Union will begin after the presidential election, the head of the union's election observer mission has said.

"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.

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.