African Union facts for kids

Quick facts for kids African Union Arabic الاتحاد الأفريقي Spanish Unión Africana French Union africaine Portuguese União Africana Swahili Umoja wa Afrika
Flag
Motto: "A United and Strong Africa"
Anthem: "Let Us All Unite and Celebrate Together"
Member states       Suspended states
Political centres	Addis Ababaa Johannesburgb
Largest urban agglomerations	Cairo Lagos
Official languages	Arabic English French Portuguese Spanish Swahili and any other African language
Demonym(s)	African
Type	Continental union
Membership	55 member states  Algeria  Angola  Benin  Botswana  Burkina Faso  Burundi  Cameroon  Cape Verde  Central African Republic  Chad  Comoros  Democratic Republic of the Congo  Djibouti  Egypt  Equatorial Guinea  Eritrea  Swaziland  Ethiopia  Gabon  Gambia  Ghana  Guinea  Guinea-Bissau  Côte d'Ivoire  Kenya  Lesotho  Liberia  Libya  Madagascar  Malawi  Mali  Mauritania  Mauritius  Morocco  Mozambique  Namibia  Niger  Nigeria  Republic of the Congo  Rwanda  Sahrawi Republic  São Tomé and Príncipe  Senegal  Seychelles  Sierra Leone  Somalia  South Africa  South Sudan  Sudan  Tanzania 10 observer states  Haiti  Israel  Kazakhstan  Latvia Mexico  Palestine  Serbia  Turkey  Ukraine  United Arab Emirates
Leaders
• Chairperson	João Lourenço
• Commission Chairperson	Moussa Faki
• Parliamentary President	Fortune Z. Charumbira
Legislature	Pan-African Parliament
Establishment
• OAU Charter	25 May 1963
• Abuja Treaty	3 June 1991
• Sirte Declaration	9 September 1999
• African Union founded	July 9, 2002; 22 years ago (2002-07-09)
• Admission of South Sudan	9 July 2011
• Admission of Morocco	31 January 2017
• African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)	1 January 2021
Area
• Total	29,922,059 km2 (11,552,972 sq mi)
Population
• 2024 estimate	1,494,988,668
GDP (PPP)	2024 estimate
• Total	$8.990 trillion
• Per capita	$6,330
GDP (nominal)	2024 estimate
• Total	$2.81 trillion
• Per capita	$1,960
HDI (2020)	0.577 medium
Internet TLD	.africa
a Seat of the African Union Commission. b Seat of the Pan-African Parliament.

The African Union (AU) is a continental union of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa. The AU was announced in the Sirte Declaration in Sirte, Libya, on 9 September 1999, calling for the establishment of the African Union. The bloc was launched on 9 July 2002 in Durban, South Africa. The intention of the AU was to replace the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), established on 25 May 1963 in Addis Ababa by 32 signatory governments; the OAU was disbanded on 9 July 2002. The most important decisions of the AU are made by the Assembly of the African Union, a semi-annual meeting of the heads of state and government of its member states.

The AU's secretariat, the African Union Commission, is based in Addis Ababa. The largest city in the AU is Lagos, Nigeria while the largest urban agglomeration is Cairo, Egypt. The African Union has more than 1.3 billion people and an area of around 30 million km² (12 million sq mi) and includes world landmarks such as the Sahara and the Nile. The primary working languages are Arabic, English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, and Swahili. Within the African Union, there are official bodies, such as the Peace and Security Council and the Pan-African Parliament.

At a G20 (Group of 20) meeting held in New Delhi, India in 2023, the African Union was admitted as a member to the G20 like the European Union.

Overview

The objectives of the African Union are:

1. To achieve greater unity, cohesion and solidarity among the African countries and African nations.
2. To defend the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of its Member States.
3. To accelerate the political and social-economic integration of the continent.
4. To promote and defend African common positions on issues of interest to the continent and its peoples.
5. To encourage international cooperation, taking due account of the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
6. To promote peace, security, and stability on the continent.
7. To promote democratic principles and institutions, popular participation and good governance.
8. To promote and protect human and peoples' rights in accordance with the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights and other relevant human rights instruments.
9. To establish the necessary conditions which enable the continent to play its rightful role in the global economy and in international negotiations.
10. To promote sustainable development at the economic, social and cultural levels as well as the integration of African economies.
11. To promote co-operation in all fields of human activity to raise the living standards of African people.
12. To coordinate and harmonise the policies between the existing and future Regional Economic Communities for the gradual attainment of the objectives of the Union.
13. To advance the development of the continent by promoting research in all fields, in particular in science and technology.
14. To work with relevant international partners in the eradication of preventable diseases and the promotion of good health on the continent.

The African Union is made up of both political and administrative bodies. The highest decision-making organ is the Assembly of the African Union, made up of all the heads of state or government of member states of the AU. The Assembly is chaired by Félix Tshisekedi, President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The AU also has a representative body, the Pan-African Parliament, which consists of 265 members elected by the national legislatures of the AU member states. Its president is Roger Nkodo Dang.

Other political institutions of the AU include:

• the Executive Council, made up of foreign ministers, which prepares decisions for the Assembly;
• the Permanent Representatives Committee, made up of the ambassadors to Addis Ababa of AU member states; and
• the Economic, Social, and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC), a civil society consultative body.

The AU Commission, the secretariat to the political structures, is chaired by Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma of South Africa. On 15 July 2012, Dlamini-Zuma won a tightly contested vote to become the first female head of the African Union Commission, replacing Jean Ping of Gabon.

Other AU structures are hosted by different member states:

• the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights is based in Banjul, the Gambia; and
• the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) and APRM Secretariats and the Pan-African Parliament are in Midrand, South Africa.

The AU's first military intervention in a member state was the May 2003 deployment of a peacekeeping force of soldiers from South Africa, Ethiopia, and Mozambique to oversee the implementation of the various agreements in Burundi. AU troops were also deployed in Sudan for peacekeeping during the Darfur Conflict, before the mission was handed over to the United Nations on 1 January 2008 via UNAMID. The AU has a peacekeeping mission in Somalia, consisting of troops from Uganda and Burundi.

The AU has adopted a number of important new documents establishing norms at the continental level, to supplement those already in force when it was created. These include the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption (2003), the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance (2007), the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) and its associated Declaration on Democracy, Political, Economic and Corporate Governance.

History

The historical foundations of the African Union originated in the First Congress of Independent African States, held in Accra, Ghana from 15 to 22 April 1958. The conference was aimed at establishing Africa Day to annually mark the liberation movement concerning the willingness of the African people to free themselves from colonial rule, as well as subsequent attempts to unite Africa, including the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was established on 25 May 1963, and the African Economic Community in 1991. Critics argued that the OAU in particular did little to protect the rights and liberties of African citizens from their own political leaders, often dubbing it the "Dictators' Club".

The idea of creating the AU was revived in the mid-1990s under the leadership of Libyan head of state Muammar al-Gaddafi; the heads of state and governments of the OAU issued the Sirte Declaration (named after Sirte, Libya) on 9 September 1999, calling for the establishment of an African Union. The Declaration was followed by summits at Lomé in 2000, when the Constitutive Act of the African Union was adopted, and at Lusaka in 2001, when the plan for the implementation of the African Union was adopted. During the same period, the initiative for the establishment of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) was also established.

The African Union was launched in Durban on 9 July 2002 by its first chairperson, former South African head of state Thabo Mbeki, at the first session of the Assembly of the African Union. The second session of the Assembly was held in Maputo in 2003 and the third session in Addis Ababa was held on 6 July 2004.

Since 2010, the African Union eyes the establishment of a joint African space agency.

Barack Obama was the first-ever sitting United States president to speak in front of the African Union in Addis Ababa on 29 July 2015. During his speech, he encouraged the world to increase economic ties via investments and trade with the continent and lauded the signs of progress made in education, infrastructure and economy. However, he also criticized a lack of democracy and leaders who refuse to step down, discrimination against minorities (including LGBT people, religious groups and ethnicities) and corruption. He suggested an intensified democratization and free trade to significantly increase living quality for Africans.

Treaties

Signed In force Document

1961 1962

1963 1965 OAU Charter

1991 N/A Abuja Treaty

1999 2002 Sirte Declaration

Organisation of African Unity (OAU)

African Economic Community: (AEC)

Community of Sahel–Saharan States (CEN-SAD)

Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA)

East African Community (EAC)

Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS)

Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)

Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD)

Southern African Development Community (SADC)

Arab Maghreb Union (AMU)

Casablanca Group

African Union (AU)

Monrovia Group

Geography

Regions of the African Union:
 Northern Region (Sahara) 
 Southern Region (Kalahari) 
 Eastern Region (Nile) 
 Western Regions A and B (Niger and Volta Niger) 
 Central Region (Congo) 

Member states of the African Union cover almost the entirety of continental Africa, except for several territories held by Spain (Ceuta, Melilla, and Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera). In addition, European countries have dependencies among the offshore islands of Africa: Spain (the Canary Islands and the islands of the plazas de soberanía); France (Mayotte, Réunion, and the Scattered Islands in the Indian Ocean); Portugal (the Azores, Madeira, and the Savage Islands); and the United Kingdom (Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha). The geography of the African Union is wildly diverse, including the world's largest hot desert (the Sahara), huge jungles and savannas, and the world's longest river (the Nile).

The AU has an area of 29,922,059 square kilometres (11,552,972 sq mi), with 24,165 kilometres (15,015 mi) of coastline. The vast majority of this area is on continental Africa, while the only significant territories off the mainland are the island of Madagascar (the world's largest microcontinent and fourth-largest island) and the Sinai Peninsula (geographically a part of Asia), accounting for slightly less than 2% of the total area.

Demographics

Population

The total population of the African Union, as of 2017^[update], is estimated at more than 1.25 billion, with a growth rate of more than 2.5% p.a.

Languages

Map showing the traditional language families represented in Africa (1996)

The official languages of the African Union are Arabic, English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Swahili, and "any other African language". The primary working languages of the African Union are English and French. To a lesser extent Portuguese and Arabic are used. The Constitutive Act, for example, is written in English, French and Arabic, while the protocol amending the Constitutive Act is written in English, French and Portuguese. As of 2020, the AU website is available in its entirety in English, partially in French and minimally in Arabic. Portuguese and Swahili versions were added as "coming soon" (em breve) in April 2019.

According to the Constitutive Act of the African Union,

The working languages of the Union and all its institutions shall be, if
possible, African languages, Arabic, English, French and Portuguese.

A protocol amending the Constitutive Act was adopted in 2003 and as of April 2020 has been ratified by 30 of the 37 member states needed for a two-thirds majority. It would change the above wording to,

1. The official languages of the Union and all its institutions shall be Arabic, English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Kiswahili and any other African language.

2. The Executive Council shall determine the process and practical modalities for the use of official languages as working languages.

Founded in 2001 under the auspices of the AU, the African Academy of Languages promotes the usage and perpetuation of African languages among African people. In 2004 Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique addressed the assembly in Swahili, but had to translate his words himself. The AU declared 2006 the Year of African Languages. 2006 also marked Ghana's 55th anniversary since it founded the Bureau of Ghana Languages originally known as Gold Coast Vernacular Literature Bureau.

Member states

All UN member states based in Africa and on African islands are members of the AU, as is the partially recognized state of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR). Morocco withdrew from the Organisation of African Unity in 1984 due to the admission as a member state of the SADR, whose territory of Western Sahara it claims sovereignty over. It was readmitted by the AU as a member state on 30 January 2017. Somaliland, which is claimed by Somalia, applied to join the AU in 2005.

Mali was suspended from the African Union on 19 August 2020 following a military coup. On 9 October of the same year, the Peace and Security Council of the African Union lifted the suspension imposed on Mali, citing progress made to return to democracy. The country was again suspended on 1 June 2021, following its second military coup within nine months.

Guinea's membership was also suspended by the African Union on 10 September 2021, after a military coup deposed the country's President Alpha Condé.

Sudan's membership was suspended by the African Union on 27 October 2021, after a military coup deposed the civilian government led by Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.

Burkina Faso's membership was suspended by the African Union in the aftermath of a military coup on 31 January 2022.

Niger's membership was suspended by the African Union on 22 August 2023 following a military coup in late July that deposed democratically elected president Mohamed Bazoum; this has since also led to the 2023 Nigerien crisis.

Gabon's membership was suspended by the African Union on 31 August 2023 following a military coup that deposed president Ali Bongo Ondimba.

Members

Observers

•  Haiti
•  Israel (suspended as of February 2023)
•  Kazakhstan
•  Latvia
• Mexico
•  Palestine
•  Serbia
•  Turkey
•  Ukraine
•  United Arab Emirates

Politics

The African Union has a number of official bodies:

• African Central Bank – Abuja, Nigeria
• African Investment Bank – Tripoli, Libya
• African Monetary Fund – Yaoundé, Cameroon

These institutions have not yet been established; however, the Steering Committees working on their founding have been constituted. Eventually, the AU aims to have a single currency (the Afro).

Governance

The principal topic for debate at the July 2007 AU summit held in Accra, Ghana, was the creation of a Union Government, with the aim of moving towards a United States of Africa. A study on the Union Government was adopted in late 2006, and proposes various options for "completing" the African Union project. There are divisions among African states on the proposals, with some (notably Libya) following a maximalist view leading to a common government with an AU army; and others (especially the southern African states) supporting rather a strengthening of the existing structures, with some reforms to deal with administrative and political challenges in making the AU Commission and other bodies truly effective.

Following a heated debate in Accra, the Assembly of Heads of State and Government agreed in the form of a declaration to review the state of affairs of the AU with a view to determining its readiness towards a Union Government. In particular, the Assembly agreed to:

• Accelerate the economic and political integration of the African continent, including the formation of a Union Government of Africa;
• Conduct an audit of the institutions and organs of the AU; review the relationship between the AU and the RECs; find ways to strengthen the AU and elaborate a timeframe to establish a Union Government of Africa.

The declaration lastly noted the "importance of involving the African peoples, including Africans in the Diaspora, in the processes leading to the formation of the Union Government".

Following this decision, a panel of eminent persons was set up to conduct the "audit review". The review team began its work on 1 September 2007. The review was presented to the Assembly of Heads of State and Government at the January 2008 summit in Addis Ababa. No final decision was taken on the recommendations, however, and a committee of ten heads of state was appointed to consider the review and report back to the July 2008 summit to be held in Egypt. At the July 2008 summit, a decision was once again deferred, for a "final" debate at the January 2009 summit to be held in Addis Ababa.

Role of African Union

Euler diagram showing the relationships among various multinational African entities v • t • e

One of the key debates in relation to the achievement of greater continental integration is the relative priority that should be given to integration of the continent as a unit in itself or to integration of the sub-regions. The 1980 Lagos Plan of Action for the Development of Africa and the 1991 treaty to establish the African Economic Community (also referred to as the Abuja Treaty), proposed the creation of Regional Economic Communities (RECs) as the basis for African integration, with a timetable for regional and then continental integration to follow.

Currently, there are eight RECs recognised by the AU, each established under a separate regional treaty. They are:

• the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU)
• the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA)
• the Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD)
• the East African Community (EAC)
• the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS)
• the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)
• the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD)
• the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC)

The membership of many of the communities overlaps, and their rationalisation has been under discussion for several years—and formed the theme of the 2006 Banjul summit. At the July 2007 Accra summit the Assembly finally decided to adopt a Protocol on Relations between the African Union and the Regional Economic Communities. This protocol is intended to facilitate the harmonisation of policies and ensure compliance with the Abuja Treaty and Lagos Plan of Action time frames.

Headquarters

The main administrative capital of the African Union is in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where the African Union Commission is headquartered. A new headquarters complex, the AU Conference Center and Office Complex (AUCC), was inaugurated on 28 January 2012, during the 18th AU summit. The complex was built by China State Construction Engineering Corporation as a gift from the Chinese government, and accommodates, among other facilities, a 2,500-seat plenary hall and a 20-story office tower. The tower is 99.9 meters high to signify the date 9 September 1999, when the Organisation of African Unity voted to become the African Union. The building cost US$200 million to construct.

Culture

Symbols

Emblem of the African Union

The emblem of the African Union consists of a gold ribbon bearing small interlocking red rings, from which palm leaves shoot up around an outer gold circle and an inner green circle, within which is a gold representation of Africa. The red interlinked rings stand for African solidarity and the blood shed for the liberation of Africa; the palm leaves, for peace; the gold, for Africa's wealth and bright future; the green, for African hopes and aspirations. To symbolise African unity, the silhouette of Africa is drawn without internal borders.

The African Union adopted its new flag at its 14th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government taking place in Addis Ababa 2010. During the 8th African Union Summit which took place in Addis Ababa on 29 and 30 January 2007, the Heads of State and Government decided to launch a competition for the selection of a new flag for the Union. They prescribed a green background for the flag symbolising hope of Africa and stars to represent Member States.

Pursuant to this decision, the African Union Commission (AUC) organised a competition for the selection of a new flag for the African Union. The AUC received a total of 106 entries proposed by citizens of 19 African countries and 2 from the Diaspora. The proposals were then examined by a panel of experts put in place by the African Union Commission and selected from the five African regions for short listing according to the main directions given by the Heads of State and Government.

At the 13th Ordinary Session of the Assembly, the Heads of State and Government examined the report of the Panel and selected one among all the proposals. The flag is now part of the paraphernalia of the African Union and replaces the old one.

The old flag of the African Union bears a broad green horizontal stripe, a narrow band of gold, the emblem of the African Union at the centre of a broad white stripe, another narrow gold band and a final broad green stripe. Again, the green and gold symbolise Africa's hopes and aspirations as well as its wealth and bright future, and the white represents the purity of Africa's desire for friends throughout the world. The flag has led to the creation of the "national colours" of Africa of gold and green (sometimes together with white). These colours are visible in one way or another in the flags of many African nations. Together the colours green, gold, and red constitute the Pan-African colours.

The African Union has adopted the anthem "Let Us All Unite and Celebrate Together".

Celebration

Africa Day (formerly African Freedom Day and African Liberation Day) is an annual commemoration regarding the founding of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), on 25 May 1963, and occurring on the same date of the month each year. Other celebrations include the following:

• The Fez Festival of World Sacred Music: a week-long celebration for harmony between cultures with dancing, Moroccan music, art exhibitions and films.
• The Knysna Oyster festival: held in Knysna and focused around sport, food and their oyster heritage.
• Lake of Stars Festival: three-day celebration that takes place in Lake Malawi, showcasing African music and welcoming people from around the world.
• Fête du Vodoun: also known as the Ouidah Voodoo Festival. It is centred around their rituals on voodoo temples, with entertainment that includes horse races and traditional drum performances.
• Umhlanga (ceremony): is mainly a private event for young women but on the sixth and seventh days the traditions are done publicly.
• African Border Day is celebrated annually on 7 June to promote peace, cross-border cooperation and regional and continental integration in Africa
• Marsabit Lake Turkana Cultural Festival: held in Kenya and celebrates harmony amongst tribes with their culture, singing, dancing and traditional costumes.
• Enkutatash is the word for the Ethiopian New Year in Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia. It occurs on 11 September in the Gregorian Calendar; except for the year preceding a leap year, when it occurs on 12 September.

See also

In Spanish: Unión Africana para niños