African Union

The African Union (AU) is the largest international intergovernmental organization, comprising all states on the African continent and holding permanent membership status in the G20.

It was founded in 2002 as the successor to the Organization of African Unity (OAU).

Its headquarters are in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The union comprises 55 member states.

The organization's leadership is divided into two key positions:

The Chairperson of the African Union (a rotating head of the organization) has been President Évariste Ndayishimiye of Burundi since February 2026, replacing João Lourenço of Angola in this annual leadership position.

The Union's executive body, the African Union Commission, is headed by the Commission Chairperson (Chief Executive Officer), to whom Mahmoud Ali Yusuf, a diplomat from Djibouti, was elected in March 2025 for a four-year term.

The main intersessional body is the Committee of Permanent Representatives of the African Union, which comprises ambassadors from all 55 member states accredited to the headquarters in Addis Ababa.

The activities of the Committee and the Assembly are coordinated by a Bureau, formed on a regional basis based on the geographical balance of the continent's five regions.

The Bureau of the Assembly (2026) includes Burundi (Chairperson), Ghana (First Vice-Chairperson), Tanzania (Second Vice-Chairperson), and Angola (Rapporteur).

The Union's main strategic document is the long-term program “Agenda 2063”. In the context of implementing its goals, the official cross-cutting theme of the organization for the entire year 2026 was approved as “Ensuring sustainable availability of water resources and safe sanitation systems to achieve the goals of Agenda 2063.”