The modern world is a multi-polar community. It is widely known that such an interstate association of European countries as the European Union. By analogy with this community , African countries have created their territorial entity - the African Union.
Organization Date
The date of establishment of the organization has not yet been clearly established. The international community recognizes the birthday of the union on July 9, 2002. The members of the association consider the date of foundation on May 26, 2001. Why did this discrepancy arise?
The resolution on the formation of the African Union was adopted in September 1999 at an emergency meeting of the heads of African states in Libya (in the city of Sirte). The following year, they approved the Act establishing the AU at the summit in the city of Lomé (Togo) and proclaimed the creation of a union. In May 2001, fifty-one African countries ratified the AU Act. So the first date appeared.
The 37th Assembly of the OAU in July of the same year in the city of Lusaka (the capital of Zambia) approved basic documents characterizing the legislative basis and structure of the new organization. The charter charter replaced the Charter of the OAU, which remained the legal basis for the entire transitional period from AOE to the AU (lasting year). On July 9, 2002, the AU summit opened for the first time in Durban, Republic of South Africa. On it, Thabo Mbeki was elected president of South Africa as the first president of the African Union. Europeans consider this date the beginning of the history of the African Union.
Reasons for the formation of the union
The African Union is the largest organization of African states. The reasons for its occurrence grew out of the economic and political changes that took place in the world after the formation of the first interstate association of African countries.
After achieving independence by seventeen African countries in 1960, dubbed the “Year of Africa,” their heads decided to work together to address emerging issues. Back in 1963, countries joined forces in the framework of the Organization of African Unity. The primary goals of the political interstate association were: protecting national independence and the integrity of the territory of states, developing cooperation between the countries of the union, resolving territorial disputes, interacting in all spheres of life, and focusing on international cooperation.
By the beginning of the twentieth century, most of the goals had been achieved. Due to fundamental changes in the framework of international cooperation, African countries have faced new challenges. On the basis of the OAU, it was decided to create a successor with new goals. The current economic situation in Africa requires a search for the latest effective mechanisms for resolving emerging problems.
The main difference
The formed African Union developed and launched the NEPAD economic program (the first letters of the English name New Partnership for Africa s Development) - "New Partnership for Africa's Development". The program implies the long-term development of states based on integration among themselves and equal cooperation with countries of the world community.
The transition of the Union from the priority of political goals to economic foundations, as history shows, will have a beneficial effect on solving the existing problems of African countries. This refers to the main difference between OAU and AC. The economic interaction of the states is planned without attempts to change the current political and administrative division.
Organization purpose
The primary goal is the economic integration of African countries. Economic and political cooperation, coupled with the strengthening of solidarity at the international level, is aimed at achieving the goal of protecting sovereignty and creating optimal living conditions for the peoples of Africa.
Main goals
To achieve these goals, the main areas of activity formulated as the tasks of the African Union are highlighted. In the first place is the development and strengthening of the integration of African countries in the socio-economic and political spheres. For its implementation, the second task is required: to protect the interests of the continent's population, promoting them internationally. From the first two follows the following task, without which it is impossible to fulfill the previous ones: ensuring peace and security for all countries of the continent. And the final task: to promote the formation of democratic institutions and the protection of human rights.
Member States
To date, fifty-four countries are members of the African Union. Given that there are fifty-five countries and five unrecognized and self-proclaimed states on the African continent, these are almost all African countries. In principle, the Kingdom of Morocco does not join the Union of African States, explaining its refusal by an unlawful decision of the Union to join Western Sahara. Morocco considers this territory to be its own.
Countries in the African Union were not at the same time. Most of them were founders of the Organization of African Unity in 1963. After the transformation of the OAU, they all moved to the African Union. In May 1963, the union included the following countries: Algeria, Benin (until 1975 Dahomey), Burkina Faso (until 1984 Upper Volta), Burundi, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Cameroon, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire (until 1986 it was called Ivory Coast), Madagascar, Liberia, Mauritania, Mali, Libya, Morocco (left the union in 1984), Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Uganda, Somalia, Sierra Leone, Togo, Nigeria, Tunisia, Central African Republic, Chad, Sudan, Ethiopia. In December the thirteenth of the same year, the country of Kenya entered the OAU.
Union expansion to the size of the continent
In 1964, Tanzania entered the OAU on January 16, Malawi on July 13, and Zambia on December 16. The Gambia joined in October 1965, Botswana on October 31, 1966. 1968 joined the ranks of the organization by three more countries: Mauritius, Swaziland - September 24, 1968, Equatorial Guinea - October 12. Botswana, Lesotho, Guinea-Bissau joined the association on October 19, 1973. And in 1975 Angola joined on February 11, Mozambique, Sao Tome and Principe Cape Verde, and Comoros on July 18. June 29, 1976 the union was supplemented by the Seychelles. Djibouti joined the rest of the states on June 27, 1977, Zimbabwe (the country of poor millionaires, as it is called) - in 1980, Western Sahara - February 22, 1982. The nineties again led to an increase in the number of members of the Organization of African Unity: Namibia joined in 1990, Eritrea became a member on May 24, 1993, and the Republic of South Africa on June 6, 1994. The last state to become a member of the African Union on July 28, 2011 was South Sudan.
Diversity of participating countries
The AU includes countries that in their socio-economic development are at different stages of development. Let us characterize some of them.
The country of Nigeria is not inferior to other African countries in first place in terms of population. However, it is only in the fourteenth place in the area of its territory. Since 2014, the state has become a leading oil producer on the continent.
Guinea-Bissau - one of the poorest countries in the world, ranks among the top five. Rich oil, bauxite and phosphate deposits are not developed. The main occupation of the population is fishing and rice cultivation.
The country of Senegal also belongs to the poorest. The development of gold, oil, iron ore and copper deposits is poor. The state survives on humanitarian aid coming from abroad.
Cameroon is a country of opposites. On the one hand, it is a state with significant oil reserves, occupying the eleventh place among the oil-producing countries of Africa. This allows us to call the country a self-sustaining state. On the other hand, half of its population is below the poverty line.
Fundamental principles
The relevance of armed conflicts between countries has led to the formation of the basic principle of the AU. Transnational corporations and the local elite are interested in obtaining the right to own and dispose of various mineral deposits on the territory of the states of the continent. In order to prevent possible armed conflicts, the rule of recognizing the state borders of the members of the union, which they established at the time they achieved independence, was adopted.
The Union assumed the right to directly intervene in the affairs of the organization’s member states if a decision is made by two-thirds of all members of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government. Such a decision and the subsequent deployment of AU troops is possible in the event of genocide against individual peoples, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
Tradition and Innovation
The new principle is that heads of government who have come to power illegally are not allowed to work in the AU. A number of sanctions are envisaged for violating countries, ranging from the deprivation of votes at the Assembly to the cessation of economic interaction. Measures are aimed at increasing the responsibility of state leaders.
In the international arena, the AC adheres to the principle of cooperation and non-alignment, proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations.
Government structure
The Assembly of Heads of State and Government is at the head of the highest authorities of the African Union and convenes once a year. The executive power is dominated by the AU Commission. For the election of the Chairman of the AU and the Chairman of the AU Commission, elections are held once a year. A peculiar tradition has developed in the OAU: the head of state in which the summit took place is the chairman of the African Union. The structure of government involves the choice of the All-African Parliament (VAP).
The judiciary is headed by the Union Court, for which the country of Nigeria has become the seat. The African Central Bank, the African Monetary Fund, and the African Investment Bank were created to solve all-Union problems. As necessary, the Assembly has the right to organize specialized technical committees to address pressing issues. Thus arose a union on issues of economics, social policy and culture. In 2010, troops were formed that replaced the initially created regional multinational troops.
The African Union Commission has eight members. Women make up the vast majority (five out of eight). The VAP Regulation recommends the introduction of two women among the five mandatory deputies from each member country of the union.
The lead center and African Union Administration are located in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia.
African Union Development Perspectives
The twenty-first century seeks to avoid unforeseen situations, paying more and more attention to the formation and development of supranational structures. Today, international intergovernmental organizations are turning into centers of efforts to solve the global problems of our time. The integration of African countries, which for the most part belong to the category of the poorest, is called to unite efforts to eliminate the causes of the creation of a beggarly state.
The AU replaces the two international intergovernmental organizations that existed before it : the OAU and the NPP (African Economic Community). The activities of the nuclear power plant, designed for thirty-four years (starting in 1976), could not cope with the negative consequences of globalization. Correct the position of the speaker.