Tanzania condemns Seizure of power in Mali

 
The Government of the United Republic of Tanzania has received with profound consternation, the news of the seizure of power, by force, from a democratically elected Government of the Republic of Mali under H.E. President Amadou Toumani Toure.
 
This forceful seizure of power from a democratically elected government is a serious set-back to the cause of entrenching constitutional rule, democracy and good governance on the African continent and Mali, in particular, which is unacceptable. For, it negates the will of the people of Mali and denies them of their basic right, which they were expecting to exercise during the general elections scheduled for April 2012, to elect the leaders of their own choice, democratically. It is also a reminder of Mali’s dark past history of coups that took place in 1968 and 1991, that had long been forgotten by the Malian people.
 
The Government of the United Republic of Tanzania therefore strongly condemns this act of the seizure of power by force, which is against the letter and spirit of the Constitutive Act of the African Union, the Protocol Establishing the Peace and Security Council of the African Union, the Lome Declaration of July 2002 and the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, all of which prohibit unconstitutional changes of Governments on the African continent.
 
The Government of the United Republic of Tanzania also joins other members of the international community in demanding the immediate restoration of constitutional rule. Furthermore, Tanzania calls on mutineers to take all the necessary measures to ensure the safety and security of the President and his family as well as his associates.  Also, Tanzania calls upon them to ensure respect for individual and collective freedoms and refrain from any acts of violence which may lead to the deterioration of the security in the country.

 
Finally, the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania supports the decision of the African Union to temporarily suspend the membership of Mali from the continental organization and expresses its commitment to work together with other Member States of the African Union, under the aegis of the African Union, to ensure that constitutional rule is restored in Mali so as to allow the Malian people choose the leaders of their own choice during the elections that were scheduled to take place in April 2012.
 

          MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND INTERNATIONAL CO-OPERATION