page_title: African Union
section_title: List of chairpersons
hierarchical_section_title: African Union / Politics / Selection of the chairperson / List of chairpersons
caption_attribution_description: Jakaya Kikwete, left, the president of Tanzania, embraces Muammar Qaddafi, the Libyan chief of state, in the Plenary Hall of the United Nations building in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, during the 12th African Union Summit Feb. 2, 2009. The assembly elected Qaddafi to relieve Kikwete as chairperson of the African Union.
context_page_description: The African Union is a continental union consisting of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa. The AU was announced in the Sirte Declaration in Sirte, Libya, on 9 September 1999, calling for the establishment of the African Union. The bloc was founded on 26 May 2001 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and launched on 9 July 2002 in Durban, South Africa.
  The intention of the AU was to replace the Organisation of African Unity, established on 25 May 1963 in Addis Ababa by 32 signatory governments; the OAU was disbanded on 9 July 2002. The most important decisions of the AU are made by the Assembly of the African Union, a semi-annual meeting of the heads of state and government of its member states. The AU's secretariat, the African Union Commission, is based in Addis Ababa. The largest city in the AU is Lagos, Nigeria, while the largest urban agglomeration is Cairo, Egypt.
  The African Union has just over 1 billion people and an area of around 29 million km² and includes popular world landmarks, including the Sahara desert and the Nile river. The primary working languages are Arabic, English, French, and Spanish, with Portuguese and Swahili being developed.
caption: Muammar Gaddafi embracing Tanzanian President Kikwete after assuming the chairmanship
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