African Union
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The Assembly of the African Union, which is formally known as the African Union Assembly of Heads of State and Government AU-AHSG, is one of several decision-making bodies within the African Union. The other bodies are the Pan-African Parliament, the Executive Council consisting of foreign ministers of the AU members states, and the African Union Commission. The Chair of the Assembly has few formal functions, the most important of which is to preside at the Pan-African Parliament during the election and swearing in of the President of the Pan-African Parliament.

History of the Assembly [edit]

The Assembly was came into existence on 25 May 1963, as part of the ratification of Organization of African Unity (OAU). Initially the Assembly consisted of 32 independent members, the heads of state of the African states that had achieved independence by 1963. Until 2001, the governing constitution of the Assembly was the OAU Charter. The Assembly is now subject to the Union Act that created the African Union.

Members of the Assembly [edit]

The AU Assembly of the Heads of State and Government consists of the 54 heads of state and government of the member countries, the Assembly meets once a year at the AU Summit. The current Chairman of the Assembly is President Yayi Boni of Benin.

The current members of the AU-AHSG are:

Member State	Representative	Title	Member since	Photo
Algeria	Bouteflika, AbdelazizAbdelaziz Bouteflika	1 !President	01999-04-2727 April 1999
Angola	José Eduardo dos Santos	1 !President	01979-09-1010 September 1979
Benin	Boni, Thomas YayiThomas Yayi Boni	1 !President	02006-04-066 April 2006
Botswana	Khama, IanIan Khama	0 !President	02008-04-011 April 2008
Burkina Faso	Compaoré, BlaiseBlaise Compaoré	1 !President	01987-08-1515 August 1987
Burundi	Nkurunziza, PierrePierre Nkurunziza	1 !President	02005-08-2626 August 2005
Cameroon	Biya, PaulPaul Biya	1 !President	01982-11-066 November 1982
Cape Verde	Neves, José MariaJosé Maria Neves	1 !Prime Minister	02001-02-011 February 2001
Central African Republic	Bozizé, FrançoisFrançois Bozizé	0 !President	02003-03-1515 March 2003
Chad	Déby, IdrissIdriss Déby	1 !President	01990-08-022 August 1990
Comoros	Ikililou Dhoinine	1 !President	02011-05-2626 May 2011
Democratic Republic of the Congo	Kabila, JosephJoseph Kabila	1 !President	02001-01-2626 January 2001
Republic of the Congo	Denis Sassou Nguesso	1 !President	01997-08-2525 August 1997
Côte d'Ivoire	Alassane Ouattara	1 !President	02010-12-044 December 2010
Djibouti	Ismail Omar Guelleh	1 !President	01999-05-088 May 1999
Egypt	Mohamed Morsi	1 !President	02012-06-3030 June 2012
Equatorial Guinea	Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, TeodoroTeodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo	1 !President	01979-08-033 August 1979
Eritrea	Afewerki, IsaiasIsaias Afewerki	1 !President	01993-05-2424 May 1993
Ethiopia	Desalegne, Haile MariamHaile Mariam Desalegne	1 !Prime Minister (acting)	02012-08-2020 August 2012
Gabon	Ali Bongo Ondimba	1 !President	02009-10-1919 October 2009
The Gambia	Jammeh, YahyaYahya Jammeh	1 !President	01994-07-2222 July 1994
Ghana	Mahama, John DramaniJohn Dramani Mahama	1 !President	02012-07-2424 July 2012
Guinea	Condé, AlphaAlpha Condé	1 !President	02010-12-2121 December 2010
Guinea-Bissau	Suspended member
Kenya	Kibaki, MwaiMwai Kibaki	1 !President	02002-12-3030 December 2002
Lesotho	Thabane, TomTom Thabane	1 !Prime Minister	02012-06-088 June 2012
Liberia	Johnson Sirleaf, EllenEllen Johnson Sirleaf	1 !President	02006-01-1616 January 2006
Libya	El-Keib, AbdurrahimAbdurrahim El-Keib	1 !Prime Minister	02011-10-3131 October 2011
Madagascar	Suspended member
Malawi	Joyce Banda	1 !President	02012-04-077 April 2012
Mali	Suspended member
Mauritania	Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz	1 !President	02009-08-055 August 2009
Mauritius	Ramgoolam, NavinNavin Ramgoolam	1 !Prime Minister	02005-07-055 July 2005
Mozambique	Guebuza, ArmandoArmando Guebuza	1 !President	02005-02-022 February 2005
Namibia	Pohamba, HifikepunyeHifikepunye Pohamba	1 !President	02005-03-2121 March 2005
Niger	Issoufou, MahamadouMahamadou Issoufou	1 !President	02011-04-077 April 2011
Nigeria	Jonathan, GoodluckGoodluck Jonathan	1 !President	02010-05-066 May 2010
Rwanda	Kagame, PaulPaul Kagame	1 !President	02000-03-2424 March 2000
Sahrawi Republic	Abdelaziz, MohamedMohamed Abdelaziz	1 !President	01982-02-2222 February 1982
São Tomé and Príncipe	Pinto da Costa, ManuelManuel Pinto da Costa	1 !President	02011-09-033 September 2011
Senegal	Sall, MackyMacky Sall	1 !President	02012-04-022 April 2012
Seychelles	Michel, JamesJames Michel	1 !President	02004-04-1616 April 2004
Sierra Leone	Ernest Bai Koroma	1 !President	02007-09-1717 September 2007
Somalia	Ahmed, SharifSharif Ahmed	1 !President	02009-01-3131 January 2009
South Africa	Zuma, JacobJacob Zuma	1 !President	02009-05-099 May 2009
South Sudan	Kiir Mayardit, SalvaSalva Kiir Mayardit	1 !President	02011-07-099 July 2011
Sudan	Omar al-Bashir	1 !President	01993-10-1616 October 1993
Swaziland	Mswati III	1 !King	01986-04-2525 April 1986
Tanzania	Kikwete, JakayaJakaya Kikwete	1 !President	02005-12-2121 December 2005
Togo	Gnassingbé, FaureFaure Gnassingbé	1 !President	02005-05-044 May 2005
Tunisia	Moncef Marzouki	1 !President	02011-12-1212 December 2011
Uganda	Museveni, YoweriYoweri Museveni	1 !President	01986-01-2626 January 1986
Zambia	Sata, MichaelMichael Sata	1 !President	02011-09-2323 September 2011
Zimbabwe	Mugabe, RobertRobert Mugabe	1 !President	01987-12-3131 December 1987

Functions of the Assembly [edit]

The Assembly has nine basic functions:

1. set policies of the Union.
2. decide on what action to take after consideration of reports and recommendations from the other organs of the Union.
3. consider membership requests into the Union.
4. create bodies for the Union.
5. monitor the implementation of policies and decisions of the Union as well ensure compliance by all Member States.
6. create a budget of the Union.
7. provide direction to the Executive Council on conflicts, war and other emergency situations and the restoration of peace.
8. select judges for and withdraw judges of the Court of Justice.
9. appoint the Chairman of the Commission, Commissioners of the Commission, all respective deputies and determine how long they will serve and what duties they will perform.

Decisions of the Assembly [edit]

The Assembly shall take its decisions by consensus or, failing which, by a two-thirds majority of the Member States of the Union. However, procedural matters, including the question of whether a matter is one of procedure or not, shall be decided by a simple majority.

Two-thirds of the total membership of the Union shall form a quorum at any meeting of the Assembly.

The Assembly may delegate any of its powers and functions to any organ of the Union

External links [edit]

• Assembly of the African Union Official Site