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The African Union (AU) is a continental union of 55 member states[8] located on the continent of Africa. The bloc was founded on 26 May 2001 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and launched on 9 July 2002 in Durban, South Africa.[9] The intention of the AU was to replace the Organization 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.[10] The primary working languages are Arabic, English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, and Swahili.[2] 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 Delhi, India in 2023, the African Union was admitted as a member to the G20 like the European Union.[11]
Overview
The objectives of the African Union are:[12]
- To achieve greater unity, cohesion and solidarity among the African countries and African nations.
- To defend the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of its Member States.
- To accelerate the political and social-economic integration of the continent.
- To promote and defend African common positions on issues of interest to the continent and its peoples.
- To encourage international cooperation, taking due account of the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
- To promote peace, security, and stability on the continent.
- To promote democratic principles and institutions, popular participation and good governance.
- 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.
- To establish the necessary conditions which enable the continent to play its rightful role in the global economy and in international negotiations.
- To promote sustainable development at the economic, social and cultural levels as well as the integration of African economies.
- To promote co-operation in all fields of human activity to raise the living standards of African people.
- To coordinate and harmonise the policies between the existing and future Regional Economic Communities for the gradual attainment of the objectives of the Union.
- To advance the development of the continent by promoting research in all fields, in particular in science and technology.
- 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 the 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.[13]
The AU has adopted a number of important new documents establishing norms at 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.[14]
History
The historical foundations of the African Union originated in the First Congress of Independence 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 1981.[15] 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".[16]
The idea of creating the AU was revived in the mid-1990s under the leadership of Libyan head of state Muammar al-Gaddafi;[17] 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.[18] 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.[19][20]
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.[21] 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.[22][23][24][25]
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.[26][27]
Treaties
| Signed In force Document |
1961 1962 |
1963 1965 OAU Charter |
1991 N/A Abuja Treaty |
1999 2002 Sirte Declaration |
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| 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) | Zdroj:https://en.wikipedia.org?pojem=Politics_of_the_African_Union|||||||||||||