Wait, how many countries are in Africa?

There has been a bit of a discrepancy today concerning exactly how many countries are in Africa. As we speak, Girl 1, or The Real African as she prefers to call herself, is counting the countries on a map. This, ladies and gentlemen, is by no means a fool-proof method. Now, according to Wikipedia, there are 53 countries, as listed below. But some claim the reputability of Wikipedia is lacking (let it be known that I am not one of those people.)

#1 Algeria (People's Democratic Republic of Algeria)
#2 Angola (Republic of Angola)
#3 Benin (Republic of Benin)
#4 Botswana (Republic of Botswana)
#5 Burkina Faso
#6 Burundi (Republic of Burundi)
#7 Cameroon (Republic of Cameroon)
#8 Cape Verde (Republic of Cape Verde)
#9 Central African Republic (Central African Republic)
#10 Chad (Republic of Chad)
#11 Comoros (Union of the Comoros)
#12 Côte d'Ivoire (Republic of Côte d'Ivoire)
#13 Djibouti (Republic of Djibouti)
#14 Egypt (Arab Republic of Egypt)
#15 Equatorial Guinea (Republic of Equatorial Guinea)
#16 Eritrea (State of Eritrea)
#17 Ethiopia (Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia)
#18 Gabon (Gabonese Republic)
#19 Gambia (Republic of The Gambia)
#20 Ghana (Republic of Ghana)
#21 Guinea (Republic of Guinea)
#22 Guinea-Bissau (Republic of Guinea-Bissau)
#23 Kenya (Republic of Kenya)
#24 Lesotho (Kingdom of Lesotho)
#25 Liberia (Republic of Liberia)
#26 Libya (Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya)
#27 Madagascar (Republic of Madagascar)
#28 Malawi (Republic of Malawi)
#29 Mali (Republic of Mali)
#30 Mauritania (Islamic Republic of Mauritania)
#31 Mauritius (Republic of Mauritius)
#32 Morocco (Kingdom of Morocco)
#33 Mozambique (Republic of Mozambique)
#34 Namibia (Republic of Namibia)
#35 Niger (Republic of Niger)
#36 Nigeria (Federal Republic of Nigeria)
#37 Republic of the Congo (Republic of the Congo)
#38 Rwanda (Republic of Rwanda)
#39 Sao Tome and Principe
#40 Senegal (Republic of Senegal)
#41 Seychelles (Republic of Seychelles)
#42 Sierra Leone (Republic of Sierra Leone)
#43 Somalia (Somali Republic)
#44 South Africa (Republic of South Africa)
#45 Sudan (Republic of Sudan)
#46 Swaziland (Kingdom of Swaziland)
#47 Tanzania (United Republic of Tanzania)
#48 Togo (Togolese Republic)
#49 Tunisia (Tunisian Republic)
#50 Uganda (Republic of Uganda)
#51 Western Sahara (Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic)
#52 Zambia (Republic of Zambia)
#53 Zimbabwe (Republic of Zimbabwe)

What do you think? How many countries are in Africa?

On a related note, according to the State Department of the U.S., 12 of the 53 countries currently have travel warnings. That's only 23%! This is a perfectly safe endeavor!