Africa: Goodluck Jonathan got his first international assignment. To lead the Commonwealth Election Observers team to Tanzania in 15 days .

Two former African heads of state, Nigeria’s Goodluck Jonathan and Mozambique’s Armando Guebuza

TWO former African heads of state, Nigeria’s Goodluck Jonathan and Mozambique’s Armando Guebuza, will lead teams of international observers to monitor the general election on October 25.

The Acting Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Ambassador Hassan Simba Yahya, said Mr Jonathan will lead the Commonwealth Team while Mr Guebuza will lead the African Union (AU) one.

Ambassador Yahya revealed this in Dar es Salaam during a joint press conference with the United Nations System Resident Coordinator, Mr Alvaro Rodrigues, to brief journalists on the world body’s 70th anniversary week and the general election.

As 16 days remain to the general election today, Ambassador Yahya said different countries and international organisations had applied and been granted permission to observe the elections.

They include the European Union (EU) and individual member states, including Finland and the United Kingdom; member states of the Great Lakes Region, the African Union (AU), Commonwealth and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

He said SADC, which usually sends two teams, will dispatch the first team much earlier to inspect and ensure that all preparations for the general election have been accordingly done.

“SADC usually has two teams; one comes to inspect all preparations for the general election while the second group will come as part of the observer mission. They will arrive this week,” he explained.

Ambassador Yahya said the observers started arriving in the country this week and were received by officials from his ministry and linked to the National Electoral Commission (NEC) and the Zanzibar Electoral Commission (ZEC).

On his part, Mr Rodriguez called for peace and stability during the election period to enable the country to continue with its development plans unabated.

“I call on all politicians and civil societies to promote messages of peace and stability for Tanzania to continue with its development plans unabated after the general election,” he said.

He recalled founding President Mwalimu Julius Nyerere’s statement that peace should come first for Tanzania to continue to develop.