AFRICAN UNION
UNION AFRICAINE
UNIÃO AFRICANA
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia P. O. Box 3243 Telephone: +251 11 551 7700 / +251 11 518 25 58/
Ext 2558
Website: www.au.int
Directorate of Information and Communication
Press Release
AUC Chairperson Approves the Deployment of African Union Short-Term Observers
(STOs) Mission to Ethiopia
Addis Ababa, 13th May 2015: The Chairperson of the Commission of the African Union
H.E. Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has approved the deployment of fifty (50) members of
the African Union Short-Term Observation (STO) Mission to the 24 May 2015 Parliamentary
Elections in the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. The STOs will arrive in Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia on 17 May 2015 and will remain in Ethiopia until 28 May 2015. The STO
will complement the work of African Union Long Term Observers (LTOs) who have been
deployed since 19 April 2015 to follow up on the pre-election context.
The African Union Electoral Observation Mission (AUEOM) will be led by His Excellency
Hifikepunye Pohamba, Former President of the Republic of Namibia. The mission
comprises fifty (50) Short Term Observers (STOs) from AU Member States and will be
deployed throughout the country to follow the electoral process and to meet with
government and electoral officials, candidates and political parties, civil society
representatives and media to provide a critical assessment of the conduct of elections.
The Mission has the mandate to observe the Parliamentary Elections in line with relevant
African Union and international instruments such as the African Charter on Democracy,
Elections and Governance, the OAU/AU Declaration on the Principles Governing
Democratic Elections in Africa, the African Union Guidelines for Election Observation and
Monitoring Missions, the International Covenant on Civil Political Rights (ICCPR), the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the 2005 Declaration of Principles for
International Election Observation to which the AU is a signatory and the national laws of
the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. The Mission shall provide an objective,
independent and impartial assessment of the conduct of the elections in line with the
aforementioned international and regional best practices and standards.
For more information, please contact
Chika Charles Aniekwe and Karine Kakasi Siaba
Email: [email protected] and [email protected]
Democracy and Electoral Assistance Unit (DEAU)
DPA, AUC
Directorate of Information and Communication. African Union Commission
E mail: [email protected]