Transformation of African Union from a Commission to an Authority

Since the 12th summit of the African Union, held in February 2009 in Addis Ababa with regards to the Union Government, it has been resolved to forge ahead in transforming the African Commission of the African Union into the Africa Union Authority.

The new entity would be given a bigger mandate and the definition of duties and responsibilities to guide the AU member states on the process of ultimately forming a Union Government, which may be referred to a United States of Africa.

The authority is to have a President, a Vice President and the commissioners would be secretaries.

All the other organs of the AU such as the Assembly of the Union, the Executive Council, Permanent Representative Committee and are not yet foreseen to be altered.

The Authority brings the continent closer to the formation of the United States of Africa, however AU member countries will remain sovereign states as they have not relinquished any executive authority.

The seat of the Africa Union Authority would still be Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The process towards the formation of the Union government has followed decisive steps as outlined below:

•   January 2005, at the 4th AU summit in Abuja, Nigeria, after reviewing the proposal of creating certain ministerial portfolios for the union, the leaders decided to set up a committee of seven heads of state under the leadership of President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda to examine the proposal in all its ramifications.

•    July 2005, the 5th AU summit held in Sirte, Libya affirmed that the ultimate goal of the union is full political and economic integration leading to the United States of Africa after reviewing the report submitted by the committee, in which it recommended that there was need to work towards the formation of a union government for the continent.

•    2006, a committee of seven African heads of state submitted a report to the AU summit. The report, known as “Study on an African Union Government towards the United States of Africa”, outlines a ROADMAP of forming the United States of Africa in three phases.

•   November 2006, the AU Executive Council concluded that “All member states should accept the United States of Africa as a common and desirable goal, but differences exist over the modalities and time frame for achieving this goal and the appropriate pace of integration.”

• July 2007, the AU summit met in Accra, Ghana to debate the plan for an African union government. The debate was to be dubbed “The Great Debate on the Union Government” with a view to providing a clear vision of the future of the African Union and of African unity;

• February 2009, the AU Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia during a special session to discuss the Union Government endorsed the recommendations of the Executive Council which were as follows:
1. In order to transform the AUC into an Authority, the Constitutive Act should be amended in accordance with the provisions of Article 32 of the said Act and, thereafter, call upon Member States to expedite the ratification of the amendments;
2. There is a need to further study the proposals contained in the Report of the Commission with special regard to:
• The functions of the African Union Authority
• The size of the Authority
• The functions of the Secretaries;
• The financial implications of establishing such Authority.

Before issuing the recommendations above, the council had received a decision mandating the Executive Council to

1. Transform the African Union Commission into an African Union Authority;
2. Strengthen the AU Authority; 
3. Ensure that the Authority is to have a structure comprising of the President, the Vice President and Secretaries with portfolios based on areas of shared competencies as agreed upon.

• July 2009, the AU Summit in Sirte, Libya requests the AU Commission to take all necessary measures to prepare:
• The legal instruments for amendments to the Constitutive Act, the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly, the Executive Council, the Peace and Security Council, the Permanent Representatives Committee (PRC), and the Statutes of the Commission related to the Creation of the African Union (AU) Authority, and in this regard, requests the Commission to convene a meeting of Government Experts to consider them;
• The structure of the new AU Authority, taking into account the mandate given to the Authority, in collaboration with the PRC;
• The financial implications of the transformation of the Commission into the AU Authority, in collaboration with the PRC.

 The July 2009 AU summit in Sirte, Libya further tasked the Commission to report on the implementation of this Decision and to submit the necessary legal instruments to the Assembly through the Executive Council at its Ordinary Session in June/July 2010 for consideration, adoption and subsequent ratification by Member States.

The United States of Africa is a generic name sometimes given to one version of the possible future unification of Africa as a national and sovereign federation of states similar in formation to the United States of America.

The AU Chairperson for the year 2009 until the next AU Summit, Libyan leader Maummar al-Gaddafi, is amongst the leaders calling for the accelerated accession into the Union Government, with other African leaders calling for a gradual process towards the formation of the United States of Africa.