African Union

African Union الاتحاد الأفريقي (Arabic) Union africaine (French) União Africana (Portuguese) Unión Africana (Spanish) Umoja wa Afrika (Swahili)
Flag Emblem
Current members      Suspended members      Other countries
Political capitals	Addis Ababa Midrand
Official languages	5; click to Arabic French English Spanish Portuguese Swahili Other African languages
Demonym	African
Members	54; click to Algeria Angola Benin Botswana Burkina Faso Burundi Cameroon Cape Verde Central African Republic (suspended) Chad Comoros Côte d'Ivoire Democratic Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo Djibouti Egypt Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Ethiopia Gabon Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau Kenya Lesotho Liberia Libya Madagascar Malawi Mali Mauritania Mauritius Mozambique Namibia Niger Nigeria Rwanda Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic São Tomé and Príncipe Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Somalia South Africa South Sudan Sudan Swaziland Tanzania Togo Tunisia Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe
Currency	Afro (planned) for 2023 Current Algerian dinar Angolan kwanza Botswana pula Burundian franc Cape Verdean escudo Central African CFA franc Comorian franc Congolese franc Djiboutian franc Egyptian pound Eritrean nakfa Ethiopian birr Gambian dalasi Ghanaian cedi Guinean franc Kenyan shilling Lesotho loti Liberian dollar Libyan dinar Malagasy ariary Malawian kwacha Mauritanian ouguiya Mauritian rupee Moroccan dirham Mozambican metical Namibian dollar Nigerian naira Rwandan franc São Tomé and Príncipe dobra Seychellois rupee Sierra Leonean leone Somali shilling South African rand South Sudanese pound Sudanese pound Swazi lilangeni Tanzanian shilling Tunisian dinar Ugandan shilling West African CFA franc Zambian kwacha
Establishment
-OAU Charter	May 25, 1963
-Abuja Treaty	June 3, 1991
-Sirte Declaration	July 9, 2002
GDP (PPP)
-Total	US$3.757 trillion (2014)
-Per capita	$3,568 (2014)
GDP (nominal)
-Total	US$2.390 trillion (2014)
-Per capita	$2,173 (2014)
v · d · e

The African Union (abbreviated AU in English and UA in different languages) is a geopolitical union consisting of 54 African states. The only African state not part of the African Union is Morocco. It was established on July 9, 2002, succeeding the Organization of African Unity (OAU).

History

The foundation of the African Union was the Union of African States.

The first attempt to create a single unified state encompassing the whole of the African continent were made by colonial powers in Europe during the 19th century, intent on using the number of natural resources and manpower the continent had to offer to their empires. However, rivalries between many of the powers made this impossible, and much of Africa later became shared by Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom. The Union of African States was one of the first unions of African nations. It only existed from 1958 to 1962 and consisted of three members: Ghana, Guinea, and Mali. The Organization of African Unity was then established the following year, but was disbanded in 2002 by its president, South African President Thabo Mbeki (1942–).

The idea of establishing the African Union was revived during the mid-1990s under leadership by Libyan head of state Muammar Gaddafi (1942–2011). The heads of state and government of the OAU introduced the Sirte Declaration on September 9, 1999, which called for the introduction of the AU. This meeting 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 union was adopted. The organization was officially launched in Durban in 2002, succeeding the Organization of African Unity.

Morocco, the only African state that is not a member of the African Union, left the AU's predecessor, the Organization for African Unity, in 1984, when several member states supported the inclusion of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.

Since the inception of the African Union, a handful of states have had their memberships suspended as a result of local political conflicts, including Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Egypt, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and Togo. Of these, only the Central African Republic is currently suspended.

Economy

All of the states of the African Union make up a nominal GDP of US$1.627 trillion. By measuring GDP by PPP, the African Union's economy totals $2.849 trillion. Currently, there are over forty currencies found in circulation within the AU, which gives the AU the intent to establish a common currency and a single central bank among its states as early as 2028.

The AU's future goals include creating a free trade area, a customs union, a single market, and a common currency.

Member states

Currently, there are 54 member states of the African Union, constituting of every African country but Morocco, which withdrew from the OAU in 1984. The countries are:

Algeria Angola Benin Botswana Burkina Faso Burundi Cameroon Cape Verde Central African Republic (suspended) Chad Comoros Côte d'Ivoire Democratic Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo Djibouti Egypt Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Ethiopia Gabon

The Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau Haiti (observer) Kazakhstan (observer) Kenya Latvia (observer) Lesotho Liberia Libya Lithuania (observer) Madagascar Malawi Mali Mauritania Mauritius Morocco (formerly) Mozambique Namibia Niger

Nigeria Palestine (observer) Rwanda Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic São Tomé and Príncipe Serbia (observer) Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Somalia South Africa South Sudan Sudan Swaziland Tanzania Togo Tunisia Turkey (observer) Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe

See also

• European Union
• Union of African States

References

• African Union on the English Wikipedia