View source for Regions of the African Union

{{Short description|5 geographic regions of the AU}}
{{distinguish|List of regions of Africa}}
[[File:Regions of the African Union.png|thumb|250px|Regions of the AU:<br/>
{{Color box|#DAA520|North|border=darkgray}}<br/>
{{Color box|#87CEEB|Southern|border=darkgray}}<br/>
{{Color box|#90EE90|East|border=darkgray}}<br/>
{{Color box|#FA8072|West Zone A & B|border=darkgray}}<br/>
{{Color box|#AC9DDB|Central|border=darkgray}}<br/>Note that the African Union includes the [[African diaspora]] as a region and that [[Ceuta]] and [[Melilla]] in [[North Africa]] are part of [[Spain]].]]
The [[Member states of the African Union|member states]] of the [[African Union]] (AU) are divided into five geographic '''regions of the African Union'''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.afrimap.org/english/images/report/AfriMAP-AU-Guide-EN.pdf |title=Appendix 1: AU Regions, Strengthening PoPular ParticiPation in the African Union |date=2009 |page=62 |publisher=OSISA and Oxfam |access-date=2 February 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927110741/http://www.afrimap.org/english/images/report/AfriMAP-AU-Guide-EN.pdf |archive-date=27 September 2013 }}</ref> The [[African diaspora]], which includes people of [[Ethnic groups of Africa|African descent]]  living outside of the African continent, such as the [[African diaspora in the Americas|Americas]], [[African Australians|Australia]], [[African diaspora#Indian and Pacific Oceans|Asia]], and [[Afro-European|Europe]], has been officially recognized by the AU as its sixth region.<ref name="Kamei">{{cite journal |last1=Kamei |first1=Seraphina |title=Diaspora as the 'Sixth Region of Africa': An Assessment of the African Union Initiative, 2002–2010 |journal=Diaspora Studies |date=2011 |volume=4 |issue=1 |page=61 |doi=10.1080/09739572.2011.10597353 |doi-broken-date=31 July 2022 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09739572.2011.10597353 |s2cid=152812717}}</ref>

==List (In alphabetical order)==
===North===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! width="20px" class="unsortable"|# !! Member state !! Capital !! Area (km<sup>2</sup>)
|-
| align="center" |1 || {{ALG}} || [[Algiers]] || align="right" |2,381,740
|-
| align="center" |2 || {{EGY}} || [[Cairo]] || align="right" |1,001,451
|-
| align="center" |3 || {{LBY}} || [[Tripoli, Libya|Tripoli]] || align="right" |1,759,540 
|-
| align="center" |4 || {{MRT}} || [[Nouakchott]] || align="right" |1,030,700
|-
| align="center" |5 || {{MAR}} || [[Rabat]] || align="right" |446,550
|-
| align="center" |6 || {{SADR}} ([[Western Sahara]]) || [[Laayoune|El Aaiún]] {{small|(proclaimed)}}|| align="right" |266,060
|-
| align="center" |7 || {{TUN}} || [[Tunis]] || align="right" |163,610
|}

===South===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! width="20px" class="unsortable"|# !! width="120px"| Member state !! width="90px"| Capital(s) !! Area (km<sup>2</sup>)
|-
| align="center" |1 || {{ANG}} || [[Luanda]] || align="right" 09wash|1,246,700
|-
| align="center" |2 || {{BOT}} || [[Gaborone]] || align="right" |581,726
|-
| align="center" |3 || {{flag|Eswatini|name=Eswatini}} || [[Mbabane]] || align="right" |17,364
|-
| align="center" |4 || {{LES}} || [[Maseru]] || align="right" |30,355
|-
| align="center" |5|| {{MWI}} || [[Lilongwe]] || align="right" |118,484
|-
| align="center" |6 || {{MOZ}} || [[Maputo]] || align="right" |801,590 
|-
| align="center" |7 || {{NAM}} || [[Windhoek]] || align="right" |824,116 
|-
| align="center" |8 || {{ZAF}} || [[Pretoria]]<br>[[Cape Town]]<br>[[Bloemfontein]] || align="right" |1,221,037
|-
| align="center" |9 || {{ZMB}} || [[Lusaka]] || align="right" |752,618 
|-
| align="center" |10 || {{ZIM}} || [[Harare]] || align="right" |390,757
|}

===East===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! width="20px" class="unsortable"|# !! width="120px"| Member state !! width="90px"| Capital !! Area (km<sup>2</sup>)
|-
| align="center" |1 || {{COM}} || [[Moroni, Comoros|Moroni]] || align="right" |2,235
|-
| align="center" |2 || {{DJI}} || [[Djibouti (city)|Djibouti]] || align="right" |23,200
|-
| align="center" |3 || {{ERI}} || [[Asmara]] || align="right" |117,600
|-
| align="center" |4 || {{ETH}} || [[Addis Ababa]] || align="right" |1,104,300
|-
| align="center" |5 || {{KEN}} || [[Nairobi]] || align="right" |580,367
|-
| align="center" |6 || {{MAD}} || [[Antananarivo]] || align="right" |587,041
|-
| align="center" |7 || {{MRI}} || [[Port Louis]] || align="right" |2,040 
|-
| align="center" |8 || {{RWA}} || [[Kigali]] || align="right" |26,798 
|-
| align="center" |9 || {{SEY}} || [[Victoria, Seychelles|Victoria]] || align="right" |451 
|-
| align="center" |10 || {{SOM}} || [[Mogadishu]] || align="right" |637,661
|-
| align="center" |11 || {{SSD}} || [[Juba]] || align="right" |619,745
|-
| align="center" |12 || {{SUD}} || [[Khartoum]] || align="right" |1,886,068 
|-
| align="center" |13 || {{TZA}} || [[Dodoma]] || align="right" |945,087
|-
| align="center" |14 || {{UGA}} || [[Kampala]] || align="right" |236,040
|}

===West===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! width="20px" class="unsortable"|# !! width="120px"| Member state !! width="90px"| Capital !! Area (km<sup>2</sup>)
|-
| align="center" |1 || {{BEN}} || [[Porto-Novo]] || align="right" |112,622
|-
| align="center" |2 || {{BFA}} || [[Ouagadougou]] || align="right" |274,000
|-
| align="center" |3 || {{flag|Cabo Verde}} || [[Praia]] || align="right" |4,033
|-
| align="center" |4 || {{Flag|Côte d'Ivoire}} || [[Yamoussoukro]] || align="right" |322,462 
|-
| align="center" |5 || {{GAM}} || [[Banjul]]  || align="right" |10,380 
|-
| align="center" |6 || {{GHA}} || [[Accra]] || align="right" |238,534
|-
| align="center" |7 || {{GNB}}  || [[Bissau]] || align="right" |36,125 
|-
| align="center" |8 || {{GUI}} || [[Conakry]] || align="right" |245,857
|-
| align="center" |9 || {{LBR}} ||  [[Monrovia]] || align="right" |111,369
|-
| align="center" |10 || {{MLI}} || [[Bamako]] || align="right" |1,240,192 
|-
| align="center" |11 || {{NIG}} || [[Niamey]] || align="right" |1,267,000
|-
| align="center" |12 || {{NGR}} || [[Abuja]] || align="right" |923,768 
|-
| align="center" |13 || {{SEN}} || [[Dakar]] || align="right" |196,723 
|-
| align="center" |14 || {{SLE}} || [[Freetown]] || align="right" |71,740
|-
| align="center" |15 || {{TOG}} || [[Lomé]] || align="right" |56,785 
|}

===Central===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! width="20px" class="unsortable"|# !! width="180px"|Member state !! width="90px"| Capital !! Area (km<sup>2</sup>)
|-
| align="center" |1 || {{BDI}} || [[Gitega]] || align="right" |27,834
|-
| align="center" |2 || {{CMR}} || [[Yaounde]] || align="right" |475,442
|-
| align="center" |3 || {{CAF}} || [[Bangui]] || align="right" |622,984
|-
| align="center" |4 || {{TCD}} || [[N'Djamena]] || align="right" |1,284,000
|-
| align="center" |5 || {{flag|Republic of the Congo|name=Congo Republic}} || [[Brazzaville]] || align="right" |342,000
|-
| align="center" |6 || {{flag|DR Congo}} || [[Kinshasa]] || align="right" |2,345,409
|-
| align="center" |7 || {{GNQ}} || [[Malabo]] || align="right" |28,051
|-
| align="center" |8 || {{GAB}} || [[Libreville]] || align="right" |267,667
|-
| align="center" |9 || {{STP}}|| [[São Tomé]] || align="right" |964
|}

===African diaspora===

In the [[Constitutive Act of the African Union]],<ref name="AU I">{{cite web |title=Constitutive Act of the African Union |url=https://au.int/sites/default/files/pages/34873-file-constitutiveact_en.pdf |website=African Union |publisher=African Union |date=11 July 2000 |pages=5–6, 17}}</ref> 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.”<ref name="AU II">{{cite web |title=Protocol on the Amendments to the Constitutive Act of the African Union |url=https://au.int/sites/default/files/treaties/35423-treaty-0025_-_protocol_on_the_amendments_to_the_constitutive_act_of_the_african_union_e.pdf |website=African Union |publisher=African Union |date=11 July 2003 |page=2}}</ref> Additionally, the African Union provides definition for its concept of the African diaspora as the following: “The African Diaspora consists of peoples of [[Ethnic groups of Africa|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.”<ref name="AU III">{{cite web |title=Report of the Meeting of Experts from Member States on the Definition of the African Diaspora |url=https://archives.au.int/bitstream/handle/123456789/4391/EX%20CL%20179%20VII_E.PDF |website=African Union |publisher=African Union |date=2 July 2005 |pages=5–6}}</ref>

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.”<ref name="AU IV">{{cite web |title=Haiti will not be admitted as African Union Member State at next Summit in Kigali, Rwanda |url=https://au.int/en/pressreleases/20160518-0 |website=African Union |publisher=African Union |date=18 May 2016}}</ref><ref name="AU I" />

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.<ref name="AU V">{{cite web |title=African Union Handbook 2021 |url=https://au.int/sites/default/files/documents/31829-doc-AU_HBK_2021_-_ENGLISH_web.pdf |website=African Union |publisher=African Union |date=2021 |page=20}}</ref> More specifically, the African Union Handbook (2021) states:

<blockquote>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).<ref name="AU V" /></blockquote>

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.<ref name="Kamei" /> 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.<ref name="Kamei" /> Furthermore, individual countries (e.g., [[Ghana]], [[Ethiopia]], [[Nigeria]], [[South Africa]]) in [[Africa]] have also undertaken national efforts to facilitate African diaspora relations, internationally.<ref name="Kamei" />

==See also==
*[[United Nations geoscheme for Africa]]
*[[Regions of Africa]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{African Union}}

[[Category:African Union]]
[[Category:Regions of Africa|African Union]]