Africa is conventionally counted as 54 fully recognized sovereign states. Western Sahara, claimed by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and administered in large part by Morocco as its Southern Provinces, is a member of the African Union but is not universally recognized as an independent country, so whether it counts as Africa's fifty-fifth state depends on which recognition standard a source applies.
What would resolve this A settlement of Western Sahara's sovereignty dispute, whether through independence, recognized integration into Morocco, or a decisive referendum, would fix the count; short of that, the number depends on which body's recognition standard is used.
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