The African Union (AU) has approved the deployment of its observation mission to the presidential election in Equatorial Guinea, scheduled for April 24.

Following an invitation from the government of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Chairperson of the AU Commission, has approved the deployment of an AU short-term election observation (STO) mission to the Republic of Equatorial Guinea's presidential election, said an AU statement Thursday.

The mission comprises 40 observers drawn from members of the permanent representatives committee (PRC) of AU, the pan-African parliament, African election management bodies, civil society organisations working in the area of democracy, governance and elections in Africa, think tanks, and independent election experts, said the statement.

Headed by Boni Yayi, former President of Benin, the AU observers will be deployed in Equatorial Guinea from April 15 to 29 to observe the voting, counting and announcement of election results, according to the statement.

Source: XINHUA