Member states of the African Union

Member states of the African Union in green.

The member states of the African Union are the 54 sovereign states that have ratified or acceded to the Constitutive Act of the African Union to become member states to the African Union (AU).[1] The AU replaced the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), and AU membership was open to all OAU member states. From an original membership of 36 states when the OAU was established on 25 May 1963, there have been eighteen successive enlargements – the largest occurring on 18 July 1975 when four states joined. South Sudan is the newest member state, having joined on 27 July 2011. The only African United Nations member state which could join, or more precisely re-activate its membership, is Morocco, which withdrew following the organization's acceptance of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, whose status is disputed, as a member state. Spain, primarily a European country, maintains sovereignty over Spanish North Africa and the Canary Islands off the coast, but is only accredited to the African Union.[2]

The African Union is composed of fifty two republics and two kingdoms. The total population of the AU is 1,068,444,000 (2013).[3]

Current members

  Membership suspended

Flag
African Union State
Accession
Population
Area (km²)
Capital
Language(s)
Notes
Algeria Algeria 1963-05-25 38,813,722 2,381,741 Algiers Arabic
Angola Angola 1979-02-11 16,941,000 1,246,700 Luanda Portuguese
Benin Benin 1963-05-25 6,769,914 112,622 Porto-Novo French
Botswana Botswana 1966-10-31 1,639,833 600,370 Gaborone English
Setswana
Burkina Faso Burkina Faso 1963-05-25 13,228,000 274,000 Ouagadougou French
Burundi Burundi 1963-05-25 3,589,434 27,830 Bujumbura French
Kirundi
Cameroon Cameroon 1963-05-25 17,795,000 475,442 Yaoundé English
French
Cape Verde Cape Verde 1975-07-18 503,000 4,033 Praia Portuguese
Central African Republic Central African Republic 1963-05-25 4,216,666 622,984 Bangui French
Sango
Chad Chad 1963-05-25 10,780,600 1,284,000 N'Djamena Arabic
French
Comoros Comoros 1975-07-18 798,000 2,235 Moroni Arabic
Comorian
French
Ivory Coast Côte d'Ivoire 1963-05-25 18,373,060 322,460 Yamoussoukro French
Democratic Republic of the Congo Democratic Republic of the Congo 1963-05-25 62,600,000 2,344,858 Kinshasa French
Djibouti Djibouti 1977-06-27 496,374 23,200 Djibouti Arabic
French
Egypt Egypt 1963-05-25 86,502,500 1,002,450 Cairo Arabic
Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea 1968-10-12 504,000 28,051 Malabo French
Spanish
Portuguese
Eritrea Eritrea 1993-05-24 4,401,009 117,600 Asmara Arabic
Tigrinya
Ethiopia Ethiopia 1963-05-25 96,633,458 1,104,300 Addis Ababa Amharic
Gabon Gabon 1963-05-25 1,454,867 267,745 Libreville French
The Gambia Gambia 1965-10-01 1,700,000 10,380 Banjul English
Ghana Ghana 1963-05-25 23,000,000 238,535 Accra English
Guinea Guinea 1963-05-25 10,211,437 245,857 Conakry French
Guinea-Bissau Guinea-Bissau 1973-11-19 1,586,000 36,544 Bissau Portuguese
Kenya Kenya 1963-12-13 37,953,840 580,367 Nairobi English
Swahili
Lesotho Lesotho 1966-10-31 1,795,000 30,355 Maseru English
Sesotho
Liberia Liberia 1963-05-25 3,489,072 111,369 Monrovia English
Libya Libya 1963-05-25 6,244,174 1,759,541 Tripoli Arabic
Madagascar Madagascar 1963-05-25 20,042,551 587,041 Antananarivo French
Malagasy
Malawi Malawi 1964-07-13 13,931,831 118,484 Lilongwe English
Chichewa
Mali Mali 1963-05-25 11,995,402 1,240,192 Bamako French
Mauritania Mauritania 1963-05-25 3,516,806 1,030,700 Nouakchott Arabic
Mauritius Mauritius 1968-08-01 1,264,866 2,040 Port Louis English
Mozambique Mozambique 1975-07-18 21,397,000 801,590 Maputo Portuguese
Namibia Namibia 1990-06-01 2,088,669 825,418 Windhoek English
Niger Niger 1963-05-25 13,272,679 1,267,000 Niamey French
Nigeria Nigeria 1963-05-25 154,729,000 923,768 Abuja English
Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo 1963-05-25 3,999,000 342,000 Brazzaville French
Rwanda Rwanda 1963-05-25 10,186,063 26,798 Kigali English
French
Kinyarwanda
Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic Sahrawi Republic (Western Sahara) 1982-02-22 267,405 266,000 El Aaiun (de jure claimed)
Tifariti (de facto temporary)
Arabic
Spanish
São Tomé and Príncipe São Tomé and Príncipe 1975-07-18 157,000 964 São Tomé Portuguese
Senegal Senegal 1963-05-25 11,658,000 196,723 Dakar French
Seychelles Seychelles 1976-06-29 82,247 451 Victoria English
French
Seychellois Creole
Sierra Leone Sierra Leone 1963-05-25 6,294,774 71,740 Freetown English
Somalia Somalia 1963-05-25 9,558,666 637,661 Mogadishu Arabic
Somali
South Africa South Africa 1994-06-06 47,900,000 1,221,037 Pretoria (executive)
Bloemfontein (judicial)
Cape Town (legislative)
Afrikaans
English
Southern Ndebele
Northern Sotho
Southern Sotho
Swazi
Tsonga
Tswana
Venda
Xhosa
Zulu
South Sudan South Sudan 2011-07-27 8,260,490 619,745 Juba English
Sudan Sudan 1963-05-25 35,482,233 1,886,068 Khartoum Arabic
English
Swaziland Swaziland 1968-09-24 1,141,000 17,364 Lobamba (royal and legislative)
Mbabane (administrative)
English
Swati
Tanzania Tanzania 1963-05-25 45,000,000 945,203 Dodoma English
Swahili
Togo Togo 1963-05-25 6,585,000 56,785 Lomé French
Tunisia Tunisia 1963-05-25 10,937,521 163,610 Tunis Arabic
Uganda Uganda 1963-05-25 30,900,000 241,038 Kampala English
Swahili
Zambia Zambia 1964-12-16 11,668,000 752,618 Lusaka English
Zimbabwe Zimbabwe 1980-06-01 13,349,000 390,757 Harare English
Ndebele
Shona

Former Members

Flag
Former African Union State
Years of membership
Population
Area (km²)
Capital
Language(s)
Notes
Morocco Morocco 1963-1984 33,848,242 446,550 Rabat Arabic
Berber
Withdrew from the AU's predecessor, the OAU, in 1984 when a majority of member states supported the admission of the
Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, proclaimed by the Polisario Front in 1976 claiming representation of Western Sahara,
as an AU member.[11][12]
Announced in July 2016 that it wished to rejoin the organization.[13] Membership application submitted on 22 September 2016.[14]
Tanganyika Tanganyika 1963-1964 49,000,000 942,433 Dar es Salaam Swahili
English
Merged with Zanzibar on 26 April 1964 to form the United Republic of
Tanganyika and Zanzibar which was renamed Tanzania on 1 November 1964
Zanzibar Zanzibar 1,303,569 2,461 Zanzibar City Merged with Tanganyika on 26 April 1964 to form the United Republic of
Tanganyika and Zanzibar which was renamed Tanzania on 1 November 1964

Accession

South Africa joined on 6 June 1994 after the end of the apartheid and the April 1994 general election.

South Sudan, which seceded from Sudan on 9 July 2011, joined the AU on 27 July 2011.[15] Following the announcement of the results of the South Sudanese independence referendum, an official AU statement noted "the AU will be keen, at the end of the interim period, on 9 July 2011, to welcome into its ranks the 54th member state of the Union".[16] It's the AU's most recent member state. Morocco is the only other African Nation (other than dependencies that are considered within the African Continent) that could join (or, more precisely, re-activate its membership).

See also

List of African Union member states by political system

References

  1. "LIST OF COUNTRIES WHICH HAVE SIGNED, RATIFIED/ACCEDED TO THE CONSTITUTIVE ACT OF THE AFRICAN UNION" (PDF). African Union. 2012-07-13. Retrieved 2014-05-27.
  2. http://au.int/en/partnerships/others
  3. "The European Union and the African Union. A statistical portrait." (PDF). Eurostat. Retrieved 2014-09-13.
  4. "Communiqué of the 547th meeting of the PSC, at the level of Heads of State and Government, on the situation in Burkina Faso". Peace and Security Council. September 26, 2015. Retrieved February 2, 2016.
  5. Dixon, Robyn (2013-03-25). "African Union suspends Central African Republic after coup". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2013-03-25.
  6. "AU readmits Central African Republic". News24. 2016-04-07. Retrieved 2016-04-21.
  7. "African Union suspends Egypt after leaders overthrown". ITV. 2013-07-05. Retrieved 2013-07-05.
  8. 1 2 "AU ends Egypt, Guinea Bissau suspension after elections". Reuters. 2014-06-18. Retrieved 2014-06-19.
  9. "Guinea-Bissau suspended from African Union". Al Jazeera English. 2012-04-17. Retrieved 2014-06-19.
  10. "African Union ends Madagascar suspension". Agence France-Presse. 2014-01-27. Retrieved 2014-01-27.
  11. BBC News (8 July 2001) – "OAU considers Morocco readmission". Retrieved 9 July 2006.
  12. Arabic News (9 July 2002) – "South African paper says Morocco should be one of the AU and NEPAD leaders". Retrieved 9 July 2006
  13. "Moroccan Envoy Meets with Kenyan President Over Rejoining African Union". Voice of America. 2016-07-15. Retrieved 2016-07-16.
  14. "Morocco officially requests to join the African Union". African Union. 2016-09-23. Retrieved 2016-10-01.
  15. "African Union Welcomes South Sudan as the 54th Member State of the Union", African Union, 2011-07-27. Retrieved on 2011-07-29.
  16. "The African Union Applauds the Success of the Referendum in Southern Sudan". au.int. 9 February 2011. Retrieved 2 April 2011.
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