Regions of the African Union

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

When a principal organ of the United Nations allocates a certain number of seats to the African Group, such as on the UN Security Council or the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the African Union distributes these seats based on these geographical regions^[2] (however, even though Morocco was not a member of the African Union between 1984-2017, it was still eligible to be picked). States must apply to the Executive Council's Committee on Candidatures by March of the election year in order to become a candidate.^[3] The Committee allocates seats roughly by proportion (for example, the Western Africa subregion usually gets the largest number of seats).^[2]

List of AU member states by alphabetical order:

#	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	Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic	Tifariti (provisional)	266,000
7	Tunisia	Tunis	163,610

#	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

#	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

#	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

#	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

In the Constitutive Act of the African Union,^[4] 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.”^[5] 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.”^[6]

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.”^[7][4]

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.^[8] 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).^[8]

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.^[9]

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.^[9] Furthermore, individual countries (e.g., Ghana, Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Africa) in Africa have also undertaken national efforts to facilitate African diaspora relations, internationally.^[9]

When the Organisation of African Unity (the African Union's predecessor) was originally created, Southern Africa was not yet independent and member states were grouped into four regions. As states in Southern Africa gained independence and became members, they joined the Eastern Africa group (including Zambia, Botswana, and Lesotho; but excluding Angola which joined the Central Africa group).^[10]

A decision in 1976, implemented by 1979, created the Southern Africa group. The six southern members which had joined Eastern Africa re-grouped, but Angola remained part of Central Africa.^[11][12]

Sometime between 1979 and 1980, Sudan changed from the Northern Africa group to the Eastern Africa group.^[a]

In 1995, Angola changed from the Central Africa group to the Southern Africa group.^[2]

Sometime between 2000 and 2003, Rwanda changed from the Central Africa group to the Eastern Africa group.^[b]

In 2004, Mauritania changed from the Western Africa group to the Northern Africa group.^[18][19]

• List of regions of Africa
• United Nations geoscheme for Africa