PRESS RELEASE N 79/ 2011

African Union Welcomes South Sudan as the 54th Member State of the Union
Addis Ababa, 27 July 2011 – In accordance with the provisions of Article 29 (1) and (2) of the Constitutive Act of the African Union with respect to the process of accession to the Constitutive Act and admission as a Member State of the Union, and following a request by the Republic of South Sudan to become part of the African Union family of Member States, the Commission has received the requisite number of written communications supporting the admission of South Sudan to the African Union as the 54th AU Member State.
A ceremony will be organised as soon as possible with the Chairperson of the AU Commission for the deposit by the Government of South Sudan of the instrument of accession of the Constitutive Act of the African Union.
A communication has already been sent to the Republic of the South Sudan, all Member States, Permanent Observers and International Organisations informing them of the membership of South Sudan in the African Union.
It is worth recalling that according to Article 29 (2) of the Constitutive Act of the AU relating to the process of acceptance of a country to become an AU Member State, the Chairperson of the Commission, upon receipt of a notification from the country to that effect, transmits copies of the notice to all Member States. Admission is decided by a simple majority of the Member States. Meanwhile, the decision of each Member State is transmitted to the Chairperson of the Commission, who shall upon receipt of the required number of votes communicate the decision to the State concerned.
It is in this regard that the Commission has the honour to inform the esteemed Ministry of Foreign Affairs that it has received the requisite number of communications from 33 Member States including the Government of The Sudan, more than the required simple majority of Member States, in support of the admission of South Sudan to the African Union, thus making South Sudan the 54th member of the Union.
Journalists are invited to cover the flag raising ceremony of this new AU Member States at a date to be communicated later.