African Union

Union · AU

Thirty-two independent states signed the Charter of the Organisation of African Unity at Addis Ababa on 25 May 1963, and the continental headquarters has not moved since. The Constitutive Act done at Lomé on 11 July 2000 replaced that Charter and opens accession to any African state. One member of the Union holds no seat at the United Nations.

Questions about AU

Which countries are in the African Union?

All 55 on this page. The test in Article 29 of the Constitutive Act is being an African state, so the roster covers the mainland, the island states of the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean, and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, whose membership is dated 22 February 1982 on the Union's own list.

Why is Western Sahara a member when it is not in the United Nations?

Because the two bodies apply different tests. The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic was admitted to the Organisation of African Unity in 1982 and is the thirty-ninth signatory of the Constitutive Act adopted at Lomé on 11 July 2000. The United Nations lists Western Sahara among its Non-Self-Governing Territories, a listing running since 1963 with no administering power named after Spain gave up its presence in 1976. Both positions are recorded here and neither is settled here.

Why did Morocco leave and then rejoin?

Morocco withdrew from the Organisation of African Unity after the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic was seated, and it is absent from the list of states that adopted the Constitutive Act in 2000. Its accession to the Union is dated 31 January 2017, following a vote at the twenty-eighth ordinary session of the Assembly at Addis Ababa. Whether that admission implies anything about recognition has been argued in the legal literature since, and this catalogue takes no position on it.

Does a suspended member stop being a member?

No. Article 30 bars a government that came to power by unconstitutional means from taking part in the Union's activities, which is a bar on participation rather than on membership. Membership ends only under Article 31, by written notification to the Chairperson of the Commission taking effect one year later. That is why a suspended state stays on the roster and the count on this page does not move.

What is the difference between the OAU and the African Union?

The Organisation of African Unity was founded at Addis Ababa on 25 May 1963 by 32 independent states. The African Union replaced it under the Constitutive Act adopted at Lomé on 11 July 2000, which entered into force thirty days after two-thirds of the OAU's members had ratified it. The Act kept the headquarters at Addis Ababa and added principles the OAU Charter did not carry, among them a right of the Union to intervene in a member state in cases of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.

Is the African Continental Free Trade Area the same as the African Union?

No. The AfCFTA is an agreement made under the Union rather than the Union itself, opened for signature at Kigali in March 2018, in force since 30 May 2019, with a Secretariat handed over at Accra on 17 August 2020 and trading under it approved to start on 1 January 2021. Its membership is close to the Union's without matching it: Eritrea had still not signed the consolidated text in 2026.

Sources

Constitutive Act of the African Union · African Union. Articles 4, 23, 24, 25, 29, 30 and 31, the adoption at Lomé on 11 July 2000, and the list of the fifty-three states that adopted it.
Member States · African Union. The founding of the OAU at Addis Ababa on 25 May 1963 by 32 states, and each member's date of joining, including 22 February 1982 and 31 January 2017.
African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Legal Texts and Policy Documents · Trade Law Centre. The Kigali summit of March 2018, entry into force on 30 May 2019, the Secretariat at Accra and the start date of 1 January 2021.
African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights · African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights. Adoption on 27 June 1981 and entry into force on 21 October 1986.
Non-Self-Governing Territories · United Nations Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs. Western Sahara listed since 1963 with no administering power named, and the Spanish notification of 26 February 1976.
Moroccan Entry to the African Union and the Revival of the Western Sahara Dispute · Harvard International Law Journal. The vote at the twenty-eighth Assembly session and the argument over what admission implies for recognition.