6. Article 29 (1) and (2) states: 1. Any African State may, at any time after the entry into force of this Act, notify the Chairman on the Commission of its intention to accede to this act and be admitted as a Member of the Union. 2. The Chairman of the Commission shall upon receipt of such notification, transmit copies thereof to all Member States. Admission shall be decided by a simple majority of the Member States. The decision of each Member State shall be transmitted to the Chairman of the Commission who shall, upon receipt of the required number of votes, communicate the decision to the State concerned. 7. The provisions of Article 29 above therefore indicate the process whereby an African State desiring to be a member takes the step of notifying the Chairperson of the AUC that she intends to accede to the Constitutive Act and to be a member of the Union. The notification of this initial expression of intention must be addressed to Chairperson of the Commission. 8. Upon receipt of such notification, the Chairperson of the AUC would initiate the process outlined in Article 29(2) to the effect that she would circulate the notification of the request to all Member States for their concurrence or otherwise. 9. The concurrence or otherwise of each Member State (the decision of each Member State on the request) as received by the Chairperson of AUC would be noted and then the concurrence would be communicated to the requesting State. 10. It is important to highlight that a part of Article 29(2) regarding the process provides that “Admission shall be decided by a simple majority of the Member States” (28 Members), the receipt of which the Chairperson would communicate to the requesting state. 11. Esteemed members of the Council, it is important to determine the effect of Article 29(2) in terms of the process of membership of the Union relative to Article 9(c) of the Constitutive Page | 2