Tanzania's wind of change under President Samia Suluhu this week blew towards mending fences with at least two key African Union-backed institutions that had fallen foul of her predecessor John Pombe Magufuli’s government.

Foreign Affairs Minister Liberata Mulamula on May 26, announced the country’s move to formally ratify the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and restore working relations with the African Court of Human and People’s Rights, saying that Tanzania had only “removed itself from the clause” binding it to the Court.

It is not clear whether Tanzania has written to the AU to reverse that 2019 decision. Ms Mulamula met with the Court's president, Judge Sylvain Or’e, in Dar es Salaam.

"Tanzania still hosts the court's headquarters. And we can’t do that if we were no longer members, can we?" she asked.

Judge Or’e concurred, saying among the priority items on the talk’s agenda was the construction of a permanent headquarters for the court in Arusha.

Ms Mulamula also met with a delegation from the Network of African National Human Rights Institutions, led by its executive director Gilbert Sebihogo, who were on a mission to evaluate the implementation of the 2018 Marrakesh Declaration on the protection of rights of human rights defenders in the country.

On the AfCFTA, she said the country was finalising on the ratification process with expected parliamentary approval expected before this coming October.