Assembly of the African Union

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 Chairperson 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.

This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
the African Union

History of the Assembly

The Assembly 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.

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

50th anniversary African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 25 May 2013

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.

Members of the Assembly

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 Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt.

The current members of the AU-AHSG are:

Member State Representative Title Member since Photo
 Algeria Abdelkader Bensalah Acting Head of State 2 April 2019
 Angola João Lourenço President 26 September 2017
 Benin Patrice Talon President 6 April 2016
 Botswana Mokgweetsi Masisi President 1 April 2018
 Burkina Faso Roch Marc Christian Kaboré President 6 December 2015
 Burundi Pierre Nkurunziza President 26 August 2005
 Cabo Verde Jorge Carlos Fonseca President 9 September 2011
 Cameroon Paul Biya President 6 November 1982
 Central African Republic Faustin-Archange Touadéra President 30 February 2016
 Chad Idriss Déby President 2 August 1990
 Comoros Azali Assoumani President 26 May 2016
 Democratic Republic of the Congo Félix Tshisekedi President 24 January 2019
 Republic of the Congo Denis Sassou Nguesso President 25 August 1997
 Côte d'Ivoire Alassane Ouattara President 4 December 2010
 Djibouti Ismail Omar Guelleh President 8 May 1999
 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi President 8 June 2014
 Equatorial Guinea Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo President 3 August 1979
 Eritrea Isaias Afewerki President 24 May 1993
 Eswatini Mswati III King 25 April 1986
 Ethiopia Abiy Ahmed Prime Minister 2 April 2018
 Gabon Ali Bongo Ondimba President 19 October 2009
 The Gambia Adama Barrow President 19 January 2017
 Ghana Nana Akuffo-Addo President 7 January 2017
 Guinea Alpha Condé President 21 December 2010
 Guinea-Bissau José Mário Vaz President 23 June 2014
 Kenya Uhuru Kenyatta President 9 April 2013
 Lesotho Tom Thabane Prime Minister 16 June 2017
 Liberia George Weah President 22 January 2018
 Libya Fayez al-Sarraj Chairman of the Presidential Council 30 March 2016
 Madagascar Andry Rajoelina President 19 January 2019
 Malawi Peter Mutharika President 31 May 2014
 Mali Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta President 4 September 2013
 Mauritania Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz President 5 August 2009
 Mauritius Pravind Jugnauth Prime Minister 23 January 2017
 Mozambique Filipe Nyusi President 15 January 2015
 Namibia Hage Geingob President 21 March 2015
 Niger Mahamadou Issoufou President 7 April 2011
 Nigeria Muhammadu Buhari President 29 May 2015
 Rwanda Paul Kagame President 24 March 2000
 Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic Brahim Ghali President 12 July 2016
 São Tomé and Príncipe Evaristo Carvalho President 3 September 2016
 Senegal Macky Sall President 2 April 2012
 Seychelles Danny Faure President 16 October 2016
 Sierra Leone Julius Maada Bio President 4 April 2018
 Somalia Hassan Ali Khayre Prime Minister 16 February 2017
 South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa President 15 February 2018
 South Sudan Salva Kiir Mayardit President 9 July 2011
 Sudan Abdel Fattah Abdelrahman Burhan Chairman of the Transitional Military Council 12 April 2019
 Tanzania John Magufuli President 5 November 2015
 Togo Faure Gnassingbé President 4 May 2005
 Tunisia Beji Caid Essebsi President 31 December 2014
 Uganda Yoweri Museveni President 26 January 1986
 Zambia Edgar Lungu President 25 January 2015
 Zimbabwe Emmerson Mnangagwa President 24 November 2017

See also

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