African Union Flags: All 55 Member States in the Order They Joined (2026)

Fifty-five flags fly for the African Union today. They did not arrive together. Thirty-two came in on the first day in 1963, the rest followed in waves as colonies became countries, one left in protest and came back 33 years later, and South Africa arrived only after 1994. Below you can drag a timeline and watch every member flag join, in order, test yourself in a quiz, and try to colour all 55 flags from memory.

When was the African Union formed?

The African Union has two birthdays. The first is 25 May 1963, when the heads of state of the African countries that were independent at the time met in Addis Ababa and created the Organisation of African Unity. That date is still marked every year as Africa Day. (African Union, Member States)

The second is 9 July 2002. The OAU called for a new union in the Sirte Declaration of 9 September 1999, adopted the Constitutive Act of the African Union at Lomé, Togo, in July 2000, and then held its final meetings in Durban, where the African Union was inaugurated with South Africa’s Thabo Mbeki as its first chair. All 53 OAU members at that date carried straight over into the AU. (Sirte Declaration; US Congressional Research Service, RS21332)

Who was the first country to join the African Union?

This is the question with the least satisfying answer: there was no first. The OAU was created by 32 states at once. According to the Institute for Security Studies, 30 of them signed the charter at the Addis Ababa conference itself, and the remaining two, Togo and Morocco, signed before the end of 1963. (ISS Africa, Profile: African Union)

The founders included Ethiopia, the host, along with Ghana, Nigeria, Egypt, Algeria and Tanganyika (which merged with Zanzibar in 1964 to form Tanzania). If you want a “first” in the sense of the first country to join an organisation that already existed, it is Kenya, which became independent on 12 December 1963 and joined straight after.

The order every member joined

Once the impossible dates are removed (more on that below), the membership grows in eight clear waves, and the totals add up exactly: 32 founders, 53 members on the day the AU was launched in 2002, 55 today.

The single biggest day after the founding was 18 July 1975, when the OAU Council of Ministers, meeting in Kampala, admitted four newly independent states at once: Mozambique, Cabo Verde, Comoros and São Tomé and Príncipe. (OAU resolution CM/Res.419 (XXV))

Who is the most recent country to join the African Union?

Morocco. It was one of the 32 founders, but it walked out in 1984 after the OAU admitted the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, which claims Western Sahara. For 33 years it was the only African country outside the organisation. The AU Assembly voted to readmit it at its summit in Addis Ababa in January 2017, and Morocco deposited its accession papers on 31 January 2017, becoming the 55th member while the Sahrawi Republic kept its seat. (AU Migration Observatory, Member States; Al Jazeera, 31 Jan 2017) Both flags are part of the set: the Sahrawi Republic (Western Sahara) flag has flown at the AU since 1982.

The newest country in the AU is South Sudan. It became independent from Sudan on 9 July 2011 and was welcomed as the 54th member on 27 July 2011. A month later, on 15 August 2011, the AU held a ceremony to add a 54th star to its flag. (African Union, 15 Aug 2011)

South Africa: the 53rd member, and the AU’s launch host

South Africa was kept out of the OAU throughout apartheid; the organisation was, in large part, built to oppose it. It joined on 6 June 1994, five weeks after the first democratic election, as the 53rd member and the last state to join the OAU before it was wound up. Eight years later, Durban hosted the AU’s launch. That makes the South African flag one of the few flags that saw both ends of the story: it arrived at the very end of the OAU and was the host flag at the start of the AU. If you want to read more about our own flag, see our guide to South African flag colours and symbolism.

The AU’s own websites disagree on 10 joining dates

Here is the part no other page covers. The African Union publishes its member list, with joining dates, in at least two places: the main au.int Member States page and the AU Migration Observatory’s member table. We compared them line by line on 17 October 2026. They disagree on 10 of the 55 dates, and six of the published dates fall before the country, or the OAU itself, existed.

Angola is the one case where both AU lists agree and are still wrong: they put Angola’s joining date nine months before Angola existed. A CIA weekly summary from 13 February 1976 counts 46 OAU members at the moment the Angolan government was winning recognition, which fits Angola as the 47th member in February 1976 and makes the totals reconcile to 53 by 1994. We treat the month as well supported but have not found the admission resolution itself. (CIA Weekly Summary, 13 Feb 1976)

Why does this matter to anyone ordering flags? Because these lists get copied. Event organisers, schools and protocol teams often build their flag line-ups and programmes from the AU’s own tables, and a wrong date travels from there into speeches and printed material.

The African Union flag: one gold star per member

The African Union flag you see today was adopted on 31 January 2010 at the AU summit in Addis Ababa. It was chosen through a competition that drew 106 entries from citizens of 19 African countries and the diaspora, and was designed by Ethiopian-born artist Yadesa Bojia. The dark green field stands for the hope of Africa, the map sits on a white sun, and the ring of gold stars stands for the member states. (Flag of the African Union)

The star count has been updated as the membership changed. It started with 53 stars, gained a 54th for South Sudan in August 2011, and the AU now describes it as a map of Africa ringed by 55 stars for its 55 members. (African Union, AU Symbols and Anthem) Before 2010 the AU used the old OAU flag: green and white horizontal bands with gold edging and the OAU emblem in the centre. According to the Flags of the World archive, the first new AU flags in 2010 were made by a South African flag manufacturer. (Flags of the World)

Can you colour the African Union flags from memory?

Recognising a flag is one thing. Remembering exactly where each colour goes is much harder. Pick any of the 55 member states below: you only see the country’s name, then you get a blank outline and its colours. Put every colour in the right space, check your answer, and see how many flags you can get right first time. Each flag you finish is revealed on its card, so you can come back and fill the whole set.

Which members are suspended right now?

Suspension does not take a flag out of the set. A suspended country stays a member but is shut out of AU meetings and decisions until constitutional order is restored, which in practice usually means after a coup. As at October 2026, six members are suspended: Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Madagascar, Mali, Niger and Sudan. Guinea’s suspension was lifted in January 2026 and Gabon’s in April 2025. (Member states of the African Union; Sudan Tribune, Feb 2026; AllAfrica, Jul 2026) Suspensions change quickly, so check the AU’s Peace and Security Council communiqués before you print anything.

Flying the flags of the African Union

A full AU line-up is 55 national flags plus the African Union flag. For conferences, embassies, schools and Africa Day events, most clients order one size across the whole set so the line looks even. Our African flags range covers the members, and desk flags work well for boardroom tables and summit-style seating. If you are also planning poles, read where to buy a flag pole, and for a wider buying checklist see how to buy country flags in South Africa. When a national day of mourning is declared, our guide to the South African flag half-mast rules explains what applies. And if you are curious what all those flags have in common, we counted every colour in African flag colours: a count of all 54 national flags.

Frequently asked questions

When was the African Union formed?

The African Union was launched in Durban, South Africa, on 9 July 2002. It replaced the Organisation of African Unity, which was founded in Addis Ababa on 25 May 1963.

Which country was the first to join the African Union?

There was no single first member. 32 states founded the OAU in 1963; 30 signed in Addis Ababa on 25 May and Morocco and Togo signed later that year. Kenya was the first to join after the founders, in December 1963.

Which country joined the African Union most recently?

Morocco, on 31 January 2017, as the 55th member. South Sudan, admitted in July 2011, is the newest country to join.

How many stars are on the African Union flag?

55, one for each member state. The flag had 53 stars when it was adopted in 2010 and gained a 54th star for South Sudan in August 2011.

When did South Africa join the African Union?

South Africa joined the OAU on 6 June 1994 as its 53rd member and became a founding member of the African Union in 2002, when the AU was launched in Durban.

Is every African country a member of the African Union?

Yes. All 55 member states are African, and since Morocco’s return in 2017 every UN-recognised African country is a member. The Sahrawi Republic is also a member, although many states do not recognise it.

How we worked this out

We took the joining dates from the au.int Member States page and the AU Migration Observatory member table (both fetched 17 October 2026) and compared them with Wikipedia’s member list, independence dates and primary records: OAU resolution CM/Res.419 (1975), the AU’s 2011 South Sudan announcements, the AU Assembly decision admitting Morocco, and a 1976 CIA count of OAU members. Where the two AU lists disagree, we kept the date that is possible and fits the running total; where both were possible we kept au.int. Gambia’s date (9 March 1965 on both AU lists, 1 October 1965 on Wikipedia) is unresolved and we use the AU date. Zanzibar, briefly a separate member before merging with Tanganyika in April 1964, is not counted separately. The membership total reconciles to 53 at the AU’s launch and 55 today. Flag artwork in the interactive timeline: flag-icons (open source). Suspension status: as at October 2026.