Regions of the African Union

Summary

The member states of the African Union (AU) are divided into five geographic regions of the African Union.[1]

Regions of the AU:
 North 
 Southern 
 East 
 West Zone A & B 
 Central 
Note that Ceuta and Melilla in North Africa are part of Spain.

List (In alphabetical order) edit

North edit

# Member state Capital Area (km2)
1   Algeria Algiers 2,381,740
2   Egypt Cairo 1,001,451
3   Libya Tripoli 1,759,540
4   Mauritania Nouakchott 1,030,700
5   Morocco Rabat 446,550
6   Tunisia Tunis 163,610

South edit

# Member state Capital(s) Area (km2)
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 edit

# Member state Capital Area (km2)
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 edit

# Member state Capital Area (km2)
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   Mali Bamako 1,240,192
11   Niger Niamey 1,267,000
12   Nigeria Abuja 923,768
13   Senegal Dakar 196,723
14   Sierra Leone Freetown 71,740
15   Togo Lomé 56,785

Central edit

# Member state Capital Area (km2)
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 edit

In the Constitutive Act of the African Union,[2] 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.”[3] Additionally, the African Union provides definition for its concept of the African diaspora as the following: “The African Diaspora consists of peoples of native or partial 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.”[4]

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.”[5][2]

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.[6] 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).[6]

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.[7]

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.[7] Furthermore, individual countries (e.g., Ghana, Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Africa) in Africa have also undertaken national efforts to facilitate African diaspora relations, internationally.[7]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Appendix 1: AU Regions, Strengthening PoPular ParticiPation in the African Union" (PDF). OSISA and Oxfam. 2009. p. 62. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 September 2013. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
  2. ^ a b "Constitutive Act of the African Union" (PDF). African Union. 11 July 2000. pp. 5–6, 17.
  3. ^ "Protocol on the Amendments to the Constitutive Act of the African Union" (PDF). African Union. 11 July 2003. p. 2.
  4. ^ "Report of the Meeting of Experts from Member States on the Definition of the African Diaspora" (PDF). African Union. 2 July 2005. pp. 5–6.
  5. ^ "Haiti will not be admitted as African Union Member State at next Summit in Kigali, Rwanda". African Union. 18 May 2016.
  6. ^ a b "African Union Handbook 2021" (PDF). African Union. 2021. p. 20.
  7. ^ a b c 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 January 2024). S2CID 152812717.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of January 2024 (link)