[Dr_tldr]

It's slightly better than the OAU, whose heads have historically been a who's who of corrupt and brutal dictators: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chairperson_of_the_African_Uni...

But, on the whole, the AU is still an embarrassing dictator's club whose primary purpose is to run flak for violent undemocratic regimes and solicit foreign aid.

The vast majority of african heads of state are either outright dictators or president's of ethnically majoritarian effectively one-party states with election irregularities and numerous human rights violations.

Besides Botswana, South Africa, Ghana and one or two others, the rest of the continent exists in a state of totally irregular politics with governments that show little interest in civil or human rights: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_Index

I would much prefer to see a Africa-wide organization made up out of democratic African nations and the democratic opposition within the rest of the countries, something like the early days of the ANC, although with less of a communist influence.