Africa’s a bit like the Americas – vexilollogically speaking that is. There’s some good stuff, some bad stuff, and some stuff that is definitely a little of both.
African Union
Cool! I like the color. I like the large, simple symbols. I like how there’s a fair amount going on, but it’s very contained and not busy at all. And I adore the outline of Africa against the rays of the sun.
Interestingly, this is one of the few international flags that resulted from a competition. It was designed by Ethiopian-American artist Yadesa Bojia. He won $7,000!
BTW, the African Union is the 21st Century replacement for the old OAS, the Organization of African States.
Indian Ocean Commission
Ooh, I like that cool symbol. Not sure exactly what it means …
The flag would probably look even better if they cut down on all that text. If you can’t just eliminate it entirely, why not just use an acronym?
You may be wondering why this one’s here in this post. I mean, the Indian Ocean’s a pretty big place, right? And, last I checked, it bordered, not only Africa, but Asia, Australia, and the Middle East as well.
That said, the IOC (wait, that’s already taken, isn’t it?) is actually a pretty select group. It includes a mere 5 members – Madagascar, Comoros, Seychelles, Mauritius, and France (who owns Reunion). How about if we call it the Southwest Indian Ocean Commission? You know, SWIOC.
East African Community
Interesting. Possibly a little too interesting, actually … Maybe if they just got rid of all that frou-frou in the middle.
As you’ve probably already guessed, all those colorful stripes reflect the flags of the EAC’s different members (Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda). Except for all that blue, which makes it looks like Botswana is a member (don’t worry, they’re not):
Well, it sure is a lot better than what they had before:
Community of Sahel-Saharan States
Now, this one is kinda cool too.
At the same time, though, that sure is a lotta stars. Oh, sure, they stand for all the members, you’re thinking … Except that they don’t. CEN-SAD (yup, that’s their acronym – from the French) has 29 members. Original members, then? Nope – there were 6 of those.
Now, as for those colors … They’re definitely different. I can say that for ‘em. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find anything on where they came from. Which made me start thinking … Mardi Gras?!?!
Economic Community of West African States
Okay, the rest of these are not going to have any redeeming factors whatsoever. Let’s start out with this baby, which is both washed out, represents an odd color combo, and is rather out of date.
ECOWAS (AKA CEDEAO – the French & Portuguese equivalent) is an economic union of 15 countries in … are you ready for this? … west Africa! BTW, there are two sub-divisions within ECOWAS/CEDEAO, UEMOA (Frenchies) and WAMZ (Anglos).
Union of Arab Maghreb
Ditto – actually worse, to tell you the truth. And in case you’re wondering what that odd shape is in the middle, well it’s just the 5 countries that make up the UMA, from Mauritania up and over to Libya.
I actually rather prefer their previous flag:
Love the description of the org from Wikipedia:
The Union has been unable to achieve tangible progress on its goals …. No high level meetings have taken place since 3 July 2008 and commentators regard the Union as largely dormant.
Pan-African Parliament
And then there’s this. It’s like it’s barely there.
The PAP is actually the legislative branch of the African Union (see above, for their rather nice flag). You’d think they coulda come up with something a little more exciting here.
Common Market for Eastern & Southern Africa
This, on the other hand, does have blue in its favor, but is still pretty much just a total snoozer.
Here’s the previous flag, which kinda looks like somebody had an accident involving some condiment packets:
Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa
Whoa! This one’s gonna get your attention. You know, there just aren’t enough yellow flags out there.
CEMAC is from the French. I guess the English equivalent would be EAMCOCA. Other acronyms from other languages include UDEAC and UAEAC.
CEMAC/UDEAS/UAEAC/whatever was formed from the ECCAS and AEC, with a little help from UNECA, REPAC, FOMAX, MARAC, the RECs, the CDC, and the ECOSOC. It’s actually now known as ECCAS, as well as the CEEAC.
I am not making any of this up.
African and Malagasy Union
Whoa! It’s bright. I’ll give it that. Maybe a little too bright, if you know what I mean.
This organization is defunct. It has passed on. This organization is no more! It has ceased to be! It's expired and gone to meet its maker! It’s a stiff! Bereft of life, it rests in peace! It's kicked the bucket, it's shuffled off its mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisible!! THIS IS AN EX-ORGANIZATION.
Before that, though, it was basically the French-speaking countries of Africa. I take it they got together to practice their parlez vous. Interestingly, they left the Malagasy part (i.e., Madagascar) off of their flag.
African Development Bank
It’s like they sewed two flags together.
This one sounds a tad boring. Their mission is to:
fight poverty and improve living conditions on the continent through promoting the investment of public and private capital in projects and programs that are likely to contribute to the economic and social development of the region (Wikipedia)
I do love their motto though – “Building today, a better Africa tomorrow.” I’m guessing other candidates in the running but falling a few votes short included “Building a better Africa today, for tomorrow” and “Building a better Africa tomorrow, today.”
South African Development Community
Holy cow! This is different.
It’s also one of the most amateurish flags I’ve ever seen. Was this put together for Greek Week? Some Girl Scout troop?
The SADC’s mission is to “promote collective self-reliance and the forging of closer links among its member states to create genuine and equitable regional co-operation.” It was formed in 1980 and was originally directed against the apartheid regimes in Rhodesia and South Africa. Ionically, these two countries are now members.
Let me end this post with the organization’s former flag:
Same crazy symbol (well, actually with one extra C – for “Coordination Conference”), but at least there’s enough color contrast this time that you can actually make it out.
