Unions are all around us. United Kingdoms, United States, United Nations, United Arab Emirates, Rugby Union, and of course political and economic unions. But the European Union isn't the only continental union.
In fact, it's not even the biggest. This video explores the African Union, what it is, how it works, and what it might be in the future. The African Union is an intergovernmental organisation comprising 55 member states.
It's also a forum for cooperation which serves to mediate between countries. To find out why these roles are important, we need to know a little bit about the recent history of the African continent as the evolutionary birthplace of humankind. Africa has had a myriad of cultures and countries develop over hundreds of thousands of years, but we're only going to talk about a tiny slice of this vast history.
Following the decolonisation of many of the countries of Africa during the 20th century, the Organisation of African Unity, or OAU, was set up in 1963 to do exactly that, promote unity among the countries of Africa, many of which were finding their post-independence identities. This organisation trundled along for some decades with limited success, until in 1999, insert Libya, at an extraordinary meeting of the organisation. arranged by Colonel Gaddafi, the leaders of the OAU issued a declaration stating that they wanted even stronger unity, solidarity and cohesion between the people and countries of Africa. They didn't just want an organisation for unity, they wanted an African Union.
So three years later, in 2002, the African Union was born. So which countries are members of the AU? The short answer, all of the African countries.
There are some caveats in the slightly longer answer though. Firstly, the Spanish-owned exclaves on the north coast of the continent are not part of the African Union, despite being on the continent of Africa. In fact, these are the only pockets on mainland Africa that are not part of the AU. Next, the AU, as with the UN, does not recognise Somaliland, a region attempting to break away from Somalia, as a sovereign state. Rather, the AU recognises this area of land to fall within Somalia.
Conversely, the AU does recognise the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, or SADR, as the government controlling parts of the disputed Western Sahara, and the SADR has full membership of the AU. This initially caused Morocco to remove itself from the Organisation for African Unity in protest, and it did not join the African Union until 2017. Finally, the African Union takes a very inclusive stance on people of African heritage outside of the continent. It's officially stated that the AU will invite and encourage the full participation of the African diaspora as an important part of our continent in the building of the African Union.
But as yet, this does not include admitting countries outside of the continent of Africa as full members. The African Union also has no qualms about suspending the membership of states, particularly as a punishment for undemocratic goings-on. The Central African Republic, Egypt, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Madagascar, Mali and Mauritania are all members that have previously been suspended for military coups or similar undemocratic overthrows of government.
However, at the release of this video, no member states are currently suspended. So what does the African Union actually do? What is it?
And what isn't it? To answer this question, it might be easier to compare it to its perhaps more well-known neighbour, the European Union. Both organisations aim to achieve unity and economic ties within their respective continent.
The AU does not have a single currency akin to the Euro. However, this idea has been floated as a future goal. The AU does not have a visa-free travel zone, similar to the Schengen zone.
However, this is another aim for the coming years, and African Union passports are currently being rolled out. The AU does have a peacekeeping force, and has sent troops to conflict areas. The AU does have a pan-African parliament, however it doesn't make laws or regulations, it has more of an advisory role. Further, the members of the parliament aren't actually directly elected by citizens, they're nominated by the legislature of their home country. Finally, unlike the European Union, the African Union is comprised of all of the countries of its continent, which is about six and a half times the size of the EU and at least 2.4 times the amount of people.
The African Union predominantly provides a forum for debate and for collaboration. It's a continental plenary where issues facing the whole of Africa can be discussed and from which formal cooperation can be achieved. While the African Union does not yet play as much of a role in its citizens'lives as the European Union does for its citizens, the AU has united an entire continent. This gives it enormous potential for fulfilling its goals of unity and progress for Africa. And as African nations continue to recover from the constraints of colonialism, the African Union will hope to act as a positive feedback loop to enhance the growth of African countries and their people.
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