List of African Union Member States By Political System - Degree of Self-governance

Degree of Self-governance

Forty-five of the African Union's member states are unitary states, which means that most of the competences lie with the central government and only minor or local issues are within the authority of regional governments. However, four states are federations (Comoros, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Sudan) of states or regions with equal competences, Somalia's Transitional Federal Parliament is also a federation; Madagascar has devolved certain powers to its six provinces; and the United Republic of Tanzania is a federacy of Tanganyika and Zanzibar, the latter of which elects its own president for internal affairs. Former federations and confederations in Africa from the twentieth century include:

• French West Africa (1904–1958)
• French Equatorial Africa (1910–1960)
• Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland (1953–1963)
• Mali Federation (1959–1960)
• Federal Republic of Cameroon (1961–1972)
• Uganda (1962–1967)
• Sénégambia Confederation (1982–1989)