Regions of the African Union

Not to be confused with List of regions of Africa.

The member states of the African Union (AU) are divided into five geographic regions of the African Union.^[1] The African diaspora, which includes people of African descent living outside of the African continent, such as the Americas, Australia, Asia, and Europe, has been officially recognized by the AU as its sixth region.^[2]

Regions of the AU:
 North 
 Southern 
 East 
 West Zone A & B 
 Central 
Note that the African Union includes the African diaspora as a region and that Ceuta and Melilla in North Africa are part of Spain.

List (In alphabetical order)

North

#	Member state	Capital	Area (km^2)
1	Algeria	Algiers	2,381,740
2	Egypt	Cairo	1,001,451
3	Libya	Tripoli	1,759,540
4	Morocco	Rabat	446,550
5	Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (Western Sahara)	El Aaiún (proclaimed)	266,060
6	Tunisia	Tunis	163,610

South

#	Member state	Capital(s)	Area (km^2)
1	Angola	Luanda	1,246,700
2	Botswana	Gaborone	581,726
3	Eswatini	Mbabane	17,364
4	Lesotho	Maseru	30,355
5	Malawi	Lilongwe	118,484
6	Mozambique	Maputo	801,590
7	Namibia	Windhoek	824,116
8	South Africa	Pretoria Cape Town Bloemfontein	1,221,037
9	Zambia	Lusaka	752,618
10	Zimbabwe	Harare	390,757

East

#	Member state	Capital	Area (km^2)
1	Comoros	Moroni	2,235
2	Djibouti	Djibouti	23,200
3	Eritrea	Asmara	117,600
4	Ethiopia	Addis Ababa	1,104,300
5	Kenya	Nairobi	580,367
6	Madagascar	Antananarivo	587,041
7	Mauritius	Port Louis	2,040
8	Rwanda	Kigali	26,798
9	Seychelles	Victoria	451
10	Somalia	Mogadishu	637,661
11	South Sudan	Juba	619,745
12	Sudan	Khartoum	1,886,068
13	Tanzania	Dodoma	945,087
14	Uganda	Kampala	236,040

West

#	Member state	Capital	Area (km^2)
1	Benin	Porto-Novo	112,622
2	Burkina Faso	Ouagadougou	274,000
3	Cabo Verde	Praia	4,033
4	Côte d'Ivoire	Yamoussoukro	322,462
5	Gambia	Banjul	10,380
6	Ghana	Accra	238,534
7	Guinea-Bissau	Bissau	36,125
8	Guinea	Conakry	245,857
9	Liberia	Monrovia	111,369
10	Mauritania	Nouakchott	1,030,700
11	Mali	Bamako	1,240,192
12	Niger	Niamey	1,267,000
13	Nigeria	Abuja	923,768
14	Senegal	Dakar	196,723
15	Sierra Leone	Freetown	71,740
16	Togo	Lomé	56,785

Central

#	Member state	Capital	Area (km^2)
1	Burundi	Gitega	27,834
2	Cameroon	Yaounde	475,442
3	Central African Republic	Bangui	622,984
4	Chad	N'Djamena	1,284,000
5	Congo Republic	Brazzaville	342,000
6	DR Congo	Kinshasa	2,345,409
7	Equatorial Guinea	Malabo	28,051
8	Gabon	Libreville	267,667
9	São Tomé and Príncipe	São Tomé	964

African diaspora

In the Constitutive Act of the African Union,^[3] under amended Article 3(q) of the Act (Objectives), the following is stated regarding the African diaspora: “invite and encourage the full participation of the African Diaspora as an important part of our continent, in building the African Union.”^[4] Additionally, the African Union provides definition for its concept of the African diaspora as the following: “The African Diaspora consists of peoples of African origin living outside the continent, irrespective of their citizenship and nationality and who are willing to contribute to the development of the continent and the building of the African Union.”^[5]

In 2016, the African Union denied membership to Haiti due to membership admission, as per Article 29.1 of the Constitutive Act of the African Union, being limited to any “African State.”^[6][3]

In the African Union Handbook (2021), persons who have been appointed to represent the African diaspora at the Assembly of the African Union have been granted the status of observer.^[7] More specifically, the African Union Handbook (2021) states:

In January 2008, the Executive Council suggested that the African diaspora be treated as Africa’s sixth region and its participation in the AU’s organs and activities be strengthened (EX.CL/Dec.406(XII)). The Assembly has recognised the diaspora as a substantive entity contributing to the economic and social development of the continent and has invited its representatives as observers to Assembly sessions (see Assembly/AU/Res.1(XVIII) of January 2012).^[7]

The African Union has also established regional institutions, such as the Western Hemisphere African Diaspora Network, and international institutions, such as the Economic, Social and Cultural Council, to facilitate African diaspora relations.^[2] Additionally, the African Union works together with AfricaRecruit, the Caribbean Community and Common Market, the Commonwealth Business Council, the International Organization for Migration, and the World Bank to facilitate African diaspora relations, regionally and internationally.^[2] Furthermore, individual countries (e.g., Ghana, Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Africa) in Africa have also undertaken national efforts to facilitate African diaspora relations, internationally.^[2]

See also

• United Nations geoscheme for Africa
• Regions of Africa

References

1. (PDF). OSISA and Oxfam. 2009. p. 62. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 September 2013. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
2. Kamei, Seraphina (2011). "Diaspora as the 'Sixth Region of Africa': An Assessment of the African Union Initiative, 2002–2010". Diaspora Studies. 4 (1): 61. doi:10.1080/09739572.2011.10597353 (inactive 31 December 2022). S2CID 152812717.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of December 2022 (link)
3. "Constitutive Act of the African Union" (PDF). African Union. African Union. 11 July 2000. pp. 5–6, 17.
4. "Protocol on the Amendments to the Constitutive Act of the African Union" (PDF). African Union. African Union. 11 July 2003. p. 2.
5. "Report of the Meeting of Experts from Member States on the Definition of the African Diaspora" (PDF). African Union. African Union. 2 July 2005. pp. 5–6.
6. "Haiti will not be admitted as African Union Member State at next Summit in Kigali, Rwanda". African Union. African Union. 18 May 2016.
7. "African Union Handbook 2021" (PDF). African Union. African Union. 2021. p. 20.