The African Union was established by Treaty on 26 May 2001. The Sirte (Libya) Declaration was signed on 9 September 1999. The AU was launched on 9 July 2002 in Durban, South Africa.
The AU’s secretariat is the African Union Commission and has its headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and Johannesburg, South Africa.
The Pan-African Parliament (PAP), also known as the African Parliament, is the legislative body of the African Union and held its inaugural session in March 2004. PAP meeting place is Midrand, South Africa.
The largest city in the AU is Lagos, Nigeria, while the largest urban agglomeration is Cairo, Egypt. The African Union has over 1.3 billion people and an area of around 29 million km2 (11 million sq mi).