Assembly of the African Union

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

The Assembly was came into existence on 25 May 1963, as part of the ratification of Organization of African Unity. Initially the Assembly consisted of 32 independent member, 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

The AU Assembly of the Heads of State and Government consists of the 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	&1President	01999-04-27 27 April 1999
Angola	José Eduardo dos Santos	&1President	01979-09-10 10 September 1979
Benin	Boni, Thomas YayiThomas Yayi Boni	&1President	02006-04-06 6 April 2006
Botswana	Khama, IanIan Khama	&0President	02008-04-01 1 April 2008
Burkina Faso	Compaoré, BlaiseBlaise Compaoré	&1President	01987-08-15 15 August 1987
Burundi	Nkurunziza, PierrePierre Nkurunziza	&1President	02005-08-26 26 August 2005
Cameroon	Biya, PaulPaul Biya	&1President	01982-11-06 6 November 1982
Cape Verde	Neves, José MariaJosé Maria Neves	&1Prime Minister	02001-02-01 1 February 2001
Central African Republic	Bozizé, FrançoisFrançois Bozizé	&0President	02003-03-15 15 March 2003
Chad	Déby, IdrissIdriss Déby	&1President	01990-08-02 2 August 1990
Comoros	Ikililou Dhoinine	&1President	02011-05-26 26 May 2011
Democratic Republic of the Congo	Kabila, JosephJoseph Kabila	&1President	02001-01-26 26 January 2001
Republic of the Congo	Denis Sassou Nguesso	&1President	01997-08-25 25 August 1997
Côte d'Ivoire	Alassane Ouattara	&1President	02010-12-04 4 December 2010
Djibouti	Ismail Omar Guelleh	&1President	01999-05-08 8 May 1999
Egypt	Mohamed Hussein Tantawi	&1Chairman	02011-02-11 11 February 2011
Equatorial Guinea	Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, TeodoroTeodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo	&1President	01979-08-03 3 August 1979
Ethiopia	Zenawi, MelesMeles Zenawi	&1Prime Minister	01995-08-23 23 August 1995
Gabon	Ali Bongo Ondimba	&1President	02009-10-19 19 October 2009
The Gambia	Jammeh, YahyaYahya Jammeh	&1President	01994-07-22 22 July 1994
Ghana	Mills, John AttaJohn Atta Mills	&1President	02009-01-07 7 January 2009
Guinea-Bissau	Carlos Gomes Júnior	&1Prime Minister	02009-01-02 2 January 2009
Kenya	Kibaki, MwaiMwai Kibaki	&1President	02002-12-30 30 December 2002
Lesotho	Mosisili, PakalithaPakalitha Mosisili	&1Prime Minister	01998-05-29 29 May 1998
Liberia	Johnson Sirleaf, EllenEllen Johnson Sirleaf	&1President	02006-01-16 16 January 2006
Libya	El-Keib, AbdurrahimAbdurrahim El-Keib	&1Prime Minister	02011-10-31 31 October 2011
Malawi	Bingu wa Mutharika	&1President	02004-05-24 24 May 2004
Mali	Amadou Toumani Touré	&1President	02002-06-08 8 June 2002
Mauritania	Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz	&1President	02009-08-05 5 August 2009
Mauritius	Ramgoolam, NavinNavin Ramgoolam	&1Prime Minister	02005-07-05 5 July 2005
Mozambique	Guebuza, ArmandoArmando Guebuza	&1President	02005-02-02 2 February 2005
Namibia	Pohamba, HifikepunyeHifikepunye Pohamba	&1President	02005-03-21 21 March 2005
Nigeria	Jonathan, GoodluckGoodluck Jonathan	&1President	02010-05-06 6 May 2010
Rwanda	Kagame, PaulPaul Kagame	&1President	02000-03-24 24 March 2000
Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic	Abdelaziz, MohamedMohamed Abdelaziz	&1President	01976-08-30 30 August 1976
São Tomé and Príncipe	Pinto da Costa, ManuelManuel Pinto da Costa	&1President	02011-09-03 3 September 2011
Senegal	Wade, AbdoulayeAbdoulaye Wade	&1President	02000-04-01 1 April 2000
Seychelles	Michel, JamesJames Michel	&1President	02004-04-16 16 April 2004
Sierra Leone	Ernest Bai Koroma	&1President	02007-09-17 17 September 2007
Somalia	Ahmed, SharifSharif Ahmed	&1President	02009-01-31 31 January 2009
South Africa	Zuma, JacobJacob Zuma	&1President	02009-05-09 9 May 2009
South Sudan	Kiir Mayardit, SalvaSalva Kiir Mayardit	&1President	02011-07-09 9 July 2011
Sudan	Omar al-Bashir	&1President	01993-10-16 16 October 1993
Swaziland	Mswati III	&1King	01986-04-25 25 April 1986
Tanzania	Kikwete, JakayaJakaya Kikwete	&1President	02005-12-21 21 December 2005
Togo	Gnassingbé, FaureFaure Gnassingbé	&1President	02005-05-04 4 May 2005
Tunisia	Moncef Marzouki	&1President	02011-12-12 12 December 2011
Uganda	Museveni, YoweriYoweri Museveni	&1President	01986-01-26 26 January 1986
Zambia	Sata, MichaelMichael Sata	&1President	02011-09-23 23 September 2011
Zimbabwe	Mugabe, RobertRobert Mugabe	&1President	01987-12-31 31 December 1987

Functions of the Assembly

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

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

• Assembly of the African Union Official Site