African Union Details, Meaning African Union Article and Explanation Guide

African Union Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description

**African Union**
]]

Official languages;	The African languages, as well as Arabic, English, French and Portuguese Some member states have other official languages.
Area - Total	Ranked 1st * 29,797,500 km²
Population - Total (2000) - Density	Ranked 3rd * 766,848,000 25.7 people/km²
GDP (base PPP) - Total (2004) - GDP/head	Ranked 16th * 495,000 million USD 645 USD
Formation - As OAU - As AU	May 25 1963 July 9 2002
Currencies	Each member state has its own currency.
Time zone	UTC -1 to UTC +4
Anthem	"Let us all unite and celebrate together"
Internet TLD	Each member state has its own top-level domain.
Calling Codes	Each member state has its own calling code beginning with +2.
*If counted as a single country

The African Union (abbreviated AU), founded in July 2002, is the successor organisation to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU). Modelled after the European Union (but currently with powers closer to the Commonwealth of Nations), it aims to help promote democracy, human rights and development across Africa, especially by increasing foreign investment through the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) programme. Its first chairman was South African president Thabo Mbeki.

Table of contents

1 Overview
2 Current issues
3 Origins and History
4 Members
5 Organisation
6 Economic status
7 Languages
8 Symbols
9 References
10 External links

Overview

Goals for the African Union include an African parliament and a central development bank. As with its predecessor, the OAU, the African Union is based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The Pan-African Parliament opened officially September 16, 2004, in South Africa.

The Secretary General, S Ahmed Salim, leads the African Union.

Because of the membership of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (Western Sahara), Morocco has chosen to be the only African nation that is not a member.

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 Burundi to oversee the implementation of the various agreements. The mission was known as AMIB and has since been taken over by the United Nations, which has designated it ONUB.

Current issues

The AU faces many problems, from the HIV epidemic and poverty to many civil wars.

In response to the ongoing Darfur crisis in the Sudan, the AU has deployed 300 soldiers, mostly from Rwanda, to Darfur to protect the AU observers. As of 2004, it is considering the deployment of up to 2,500 peacekeepers to the region.

As of 2004, current conflicts also include the:

Origins and History

The African Union originated in the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was established on May 25, 1963.

The idea of an African Union began with the vision of a "United States of Africa" of controversial Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi, who, frustrated by developments in the Arab world, has in recent years largely given up his long-held ideologies of Arab nationalism and Pan-Arabism, even publicly forsaking identity as an Arab, preferring instead the label African. Having now taken up Pan Africanism, and from Libya's position of relative wealth within the African economy, Qaddafi plays an important role in African affairs, dispensing liberal amounts of foreign aid on cash-poor friends across the continent, where he has long enjoyed a better reputation than in other areas of the world.

The heads of state and heads of government of the OAU issued the Sirte Declaration on September 9, 1999, calling for the establishment of an African Union. The Sirte 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.

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

Members

The African Union has 53 members, covering almost all of the continent of Africa. Morocco chooses not to be a member because Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (Western Sahara) is.

Organisation

The African Union is modelled on the European Union and has a number of official bodies:

Pan-African Parliament, to be in South Africa, composed of elected representatives from the five regions of Africa, and intended to provide civil-society participation in the processes of the African Union.
African Commission, composed of 10 commissioners (including a chair and deputy chair) and staff. As the secretariat of the African Union, it is responsible for administrative issues and co-ordination of African Union activities and meetings. As of 2004, the chairman is Alpha Oumar Konare, former president of Mali.
African Court of Justice, which will rule on human-rights abuses in Africa.
Executive Council, composed of ministers designated by the governments of members states. It decides on matters such as foreign trade, social security, food, agriculture and communications, is accountable to the Assembly, and prepares material for the Assembly to discuss and approve.
Assembly, composed of heads of state and heads of government of member states. The most important decision-making body of the African Union, it meets once a year and makes its decisions by consensus or by a two-thirds majority. The current chairman of the Assembly is Olusegun Obasanjo, president of Nigeria.
Permanent Representatives' Committee, composed of nominated permanent representatives of member states. It prepares the work for the Executive Council.
Peace and Security Council, proposed at the Lusaka Summit in 2001; a protocol to establish this group has not yet been ratified. It will have 15 members responsible for monitoring and intervening in conflicts, will be advised by a council of elders, and will have an African force at its disposal.
Economic, Social and Cultural Council, an advisory organ composed of professional and civic representatives.

Specialized Technical Committees on :

Rural Economy and Agricultural Matters
Monetary and Financial Affairs
Trade, Customs and Immigration Matters
Industry, Science and Technology, Energy, Natural Resources and Environment
Transport, Communications and Tourism
Health, Labour and Social Affairs
Education, Culture and Human Resources

Financial institutions:

African Central Bank
African Monetary Fund
African Investment Bank

Economic status

Main article: Economy of Africa

The member states' efforts to collaborate economically are impeded by the civil wars raging in several parts of Africa.

Languages

The African Union promotes the use of African languages wherever possible in its official work. Its other working languages are Arabic, English, French and Portuguese.

Symbols

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 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 African Union has adopted a new anthem, which begins Let us all unite and celebrate together, and has the chorus O sons and daughters of Africa, flesh of the sun and flesh of the sky, Let us make Africa the tree of life.