The African Union

African Union  (English) الاتحاد الأفريقي (Arabic) Union africaine  (French) União Africana  (Portuguese) Unión Africana  (Spanish) Umoja wa Afrika  (Swahili)
Flag Emblem
Motto:  "A United and Strong Africa"
Anthem:  "Let Us All Unite and Celebrate Together"
Dark green: member states
Political centres	Addis Ababaa Johannesburgb
Largest city	Lagos
Official languages	English Arabic French Portuguese Spanish Swahili African Languages
Demonym	African
Type	Continental union
Membership	55 member states
Leaders
• Assembly Chair	Alpha Conde
• Commission Chair	Moussa Faki
• Parliamentary President	Roger Nkodo Dang
Legislature	Pan-African Parliament
Establishment
• OAU Charter	25 May 1963; 54 years ago (1963-05-25)
• Abuja Treaty	3 June 1991
• Sirte Declaration	9 September 1999
• African Union founded	9 July 2002
Area
• Total	29,922,059 km2 (11,552,972 sq mi)
Population
• 2015 estimate	1,186,035,272
GDP (PPP)	2015 estimate
• Total	$5.5 trillion
• Per capita	$4,600
HDI (2014)	0.524 low
Internet TLD	.africa c
Website au.int
a Seat of the African Union Commission. b Seat of the Pan-African Parliament. c Proposed.

The African Union (AU) is a continental union consisting of all 55 countries on the African continent, including the 6% of Egypt that is geographically in Asia. It was established on 26 May 2001 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and launched on 9 July 2002 in South Africa, with the aim of replacing the Organisation of African Unity (OAU). 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 objectives of the AU are:

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

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 Organization of African Unity voted to become the African Union.