African Unification Front
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See: Structure of the AU Government
See: A Brief History of the African Union
See: Flag of the African Union
See: Anthem of the African Union
BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE AFRICAN UNION
 The African Union (AU or Africa), is a federation, and by area is the largest country in the world, covering one-fifth of the total land surface of the earth. The AU was formed, with Addis Ababa as its capital, on June 26, 2001, as a consequence of the ascendency of the Pan Africanist Movement, following the overthrow of the colonial occupation and apartheid. In July 2004, the Capital of the African Union was relocated to Midrand, in the AU Constituent Republic of South Africa.
The African Union has the status of a State under recognized international norms, formed by an Act of Union transforming the African Economic Community, a federated commonwealth, into a state, under established international conventions. The African Union is a country with a parliamentary government, known as the African Union Government, consisting of legislative, judicial and executive organs, and led by the African Union President and Head of State, who is also the President of the Pan African Parliament. A person becomes AU President by being elected to the PAP, and subsequently gaining confidence (support of the majority seats/votes) in the PAP.
The powers and authority of the President of the African Parliament derive from the Union Act, and the Protocol of the PAP, as well as the inheritence of presidential authority stipulated by African treaties and by international treaties, including those subordinating the Secretary General of the OAU Secretariat (AU Commission) to the PAP. The government of the AU consists of all-union (federal), regional, state, and municipal authorities, as well as hundreds of institutions, that together manage the day-to-day affairs of the nation.
Inaugural Session of AU Parliament at Addis Ababa
 President Gertrude Ibengwe Mongella is the Head of State and Chief of Government of the African Union, by virtue of the fact that she is the President of the Pan African Parliament. She was elected by Parliament on its Inaugural Session in March 2004, for a term of five years. The PAP consists of 265 legislators, five from each constituent state of the African Union. Over 21% of the members of the PAP are female.
The African Union is, in extent, 11,699,000 square miles (30,330,000 sq km). The distance from north to south (Cape Blanc, Tunisia to Cape Agulhas, South Africa) is 4970 mi (8050 km); from east to west (Cape Verde, Senegal to Ras Hafun, Somalia), it stretches 4700 mi (7560 km).
 The AU has a diverse community consisting of 3000 distinct national communities (and about 1000 languages) living within its borders. The coastline of the African Union mainland is 18,950 miles (30, 490 km) long - shorter than that of Europe, or Russia, or Canada, because there are few bays or gulfs (See AU Islands). The AU working languages are all the African languages, as well as all the international languages.
Although the African Union is the largest country in the world, making up 22% of the Earth's land surface, it contains only 10.5% of the world's population [690 million people], and has less people than either China or India. The new interim capital city of the African Union is Midrand, other cities serve as administrative centers for various union institutions, and all cities have branches of one or more of the African Union's administrative institutions.
The largest cities in the African Union are Cairo, Lagos, Nairobi, Johannesburg and Algiers, all of which are major regional political and business centers for the African Union. Dakar city in Senegal is the African Union's second most important administrative headquarters after Addis Ababa. Other leading cities with administrative significance for the African Union include Abidjan, Abuja, Lusaka, Pretoria/Tshwane, Sirte, and Kinshasa.
African Union Trooper
 The AU consists of several large regional jurisdictions (including ECOWAS, SADC, COMESA, UDEAC), several special multi-jurisdictional territories such as transfrontier wildlife sanctuaries, 53 constitutive states (excluding Morocco), hundreds of kingdoms, as well as a variety of smaller administrative units.
Even though the African Union is the world's 10th largest economy (US$ 350 billion annual NNP, and US$ 750 billion GDP), its share of world trade is miniscule, less than 2%. Intra-African trade is less than 10% of Africa's total trade. The African Union has great potential for healthy environment-friendly growth and community-friendly productivity. In spite of massive catastrophic political disasters and displacement, the age structure of Africa is relatively young in comparison with the other regions of the world, and Africa's fragile natural environment is not as damaged as the rest of the world. The world's largest varieties of wildlife, and the widest variety of vegetation are found in Africa.
It is important to note that the African Union is the world's largest supplier of raw materials and strategic minerals necessary for the operations of the world economic system. The AU has the worlds largest mineral reserves of any kind...including petroleum and natural gas, gold, as well as agricultural products such as palm oil, plantains, cereals, and beverages.
 Because of Neocolonialism Africa's resources are exploited in a disorderly and exploitative way that is disadvantageous to Africans. The record of conduct of foreign companies in Africa is horrendous and full of human rights atrocities against Africans, in addition to the failure to include Africans in the management of their own resorces, and the failure to reinvest profits in Africa. Such conduct causes ill-will between Africans and the rest of the world. Moreover, Africans resent the fact that the EU, the US and Asian countries continue to discriminate against African business, and use subsidies and protective tarrifs, unions and cartels and to close their markets against fair competition by Africans.
Through a multi-year plan to achieve a balanced and stable economy, the AU is taking advantage of raw material, fuel, mineral resources and communications technology. This restructuring is required by several key treaties, including the Abuja Treaty, in order to satisfy movement towards the full integration of regional economic blocs. Consequently, the AU is undergoing a general, systematic and orderly transition to an integrated, and coherent African economic regime.
The Protocol of the African Parliament stipulates that the Parliament must implement reforms directed towards reducing duplication and incoherence in the political, military and economic federated bureacracy of the AU government. The integration efforts aimed at conflict resolution and military coherence are directed by the Pan African Parliament and its committees.
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