University of Wisconsin-Madison African Studies Program
Outreach Services

Heads of State, Capitals, and Countries in Africa

• ALGERIA
  Official Language: Arabic
  Capital: Algiers
  Head of State: Abdelaziz Bouteflika

• ANGOLA
  Official Language: Portuguese
  Capital: Luanda
  Head of State: Jose Eduardo dos Santos

• BENIN
  Official Language: French
  Capital: Porto Novo
  Head of State: Matthieu Kerekou

• BOTSWANA
  Official Language: English
  Capital: Gaborone
  Head of  State: Sir Quett Ketumile Joni Masire

• BURKINA FASO
  Official Language: French
  Capital: Ouagadougou
  Head of State: Blaise Campaore

• BURUNDI
  Official Languages: French, Kirundi, Swahili
  Capital: Bujumbura
  Head of State: Pierre Buyoya

• CAMEROON
  Official Languages: French and English
  Capital: Yaounde
  Head of State: Paul Biya

• CANARY ISLANDS
  Official Language: Spanish
  Capital: Las Palmas
  Head of State: Spanish Colony

• CAPE VERDE
  Official Languages: Portuguese and Creole
  Capital: Praia
  Head of State: Antonio Mascarenhas Monteiro

• CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
  Official Language: French
  Capital: Bangui
  Head of State: Ange-Felix Patasse

• CHAD
  Official Language: French
  Capital: N'Djamena
  Head of State: Idriss Deby

• COMOROS (Federal Islamic Republic)
  Official Languages: Arabic and French
  Capital: Moroni
  Head of State: Assoumani Azali

• CONGO (Democratic Republic of - formerly Zaire)
  Official Language: French
  Capital: Kinshasa
  Head of State: Laurent Desire Kabila

• CONGO (Republic of the Congo)
  Official Language: French
  Capital: Braazaville
  Head of State: Prof. Pascal Lissouba

• COTE D'IVOIRE
  Official Language: French
  Capital: Abidjan
  Head of State: Henri Konan-Bedie

• DJIBOUTI
  Official Languages: Arabic and French
  Capital: Djibouti
  Head of State: Ismail Omar Guelleh

• EGYPT
  Official Language: Arabic
  Capital: Cairo
  Head of State: Hosni Mubarak

• EQUITORIAL GUINEA
  Official Language: Spanish
  Capital: Malabo
  Head of State: Col. Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo

• ERITREA
  Official Language: Amharic
  Capital: Asmara
  Head of State: Isaias Aferwerki

• ETHIOPIA
  Official Language: Amharic
  Capital: Addis Ababa
  Head of State: Meles Zenawi

• GABON
  Official Language: French
  Capital: Libreville
  Head of State: El Hadj Omar Bongo

• GAMBIA
  Official Language: English
  Capital: Banjul
  Head of State: Capt. Yahya Jammeh

• GHANA
  Official Language: English
  Capital: Accra
  Head of State: Jerry Rawlings

• GUINEA
  Official Language: French
  Capital: Conakry
  Head of State: Brig. Gen. Lansana Conte

• GUINEA-BISSAU
  Official Language: Portuguese
  Capital: Bissau
  Head of State: Joao Bernardo Vieira

• KENYA
  Official Languages: Kiswahili and English
  Capital: Nairobi
  Head of State: Daniel T. arap Moi

• LESOTHO (Kingdom of)
  Official Languages: Sesotho and English
  Capital: Maseru
  Head of State: King Letsie III

• LIBERIA
  Official Language: English
  Capital: Monrovia
  Head of State: Dankpanah Charles Ghankay Taylor

• LIBYA
  Official Language: Arabic
  Capital: Tripoli/Benghazi
  Head of State: Muammar Quadafi

• MADAGASCAR
  Official Languages: Madagasy and French
  Capital: Antananarivo
  Head of State: Didier Ratsiraka

• MALAWI
  Official Languages: Chichewa and English
  Capital: Lilongwe
  Head of State: Bakili Muluzi

• MALI
  Official Language: French
  Capital: Bamako
  Head of State: Alpha Oumar Konare

• MAURITANIA (Islamic Repulic of)
  Official Languages: Arabic and French
  Capital: Nouakchott
  Head of State: Moaouia Ould Sidi Mohammed Taya

• MAURITIUS
  Official Languages: English and French
  Capital: Port Louis
  Head of State: Cassam Uteem

• MOROCCO (Al-Mamlaka al-Maghrebia)
  Official Language: Arabic
  Capital: Rabat
  Head of State: King Hassan II

• MOZAMBIQUE
  Official Language: Portuguese
  Capital: Maputo
  Head of State: Joaquim Chissano

• NAMIBIA
  Official Language: English
  Capital: Windhoek
  Head of State: Samuel Daniel Nujoma

• NIGER
  Official Language: French
  Capital: Niamey
  Head of State: Daouda Malam Wanke

• NIGERIA
  Official Language: English
  Capital: Abuja
  Head of State: General Olusegun Obasanjo

• REUNION
  Official Language: French
  Capital: St. Denis
  Head of State: French Territory

• RWANDA
  Official Languages: French and Kinyarwanda
  Capital: Kigali
  Head of State: Pasteur Bizimungu

• SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE
  Official Language: Portuguese
  Capital: Sao Tome
  Head of State: Miguel Trovoada

• SENEGAL
  Official Languages: Wolof and French
  Capital: Dakar
  Head of State: Abdou Diouf

• SEYCHELLES
  Official Languages: Creole, English and French
  Capital: Victoria
  Head of State: France-Albert Rene

• SIERRA LEONE
  Official Language: English
  Capital: Freetown
  Head of State: Ahmad Tejan Kabbah

• SOMALIA
  Official Languages: Somali and Arabic
  Capital: Mogadishu
  Head of State: Ali Madhi Mohammed (de jure head of state)

• SOUTH AFRICA
  Official Languages: English, Afrikaans, Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Sesotho, SiSwati, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu
  Capital: Cape Town (legislative); Pretoria (administrative); Bloemfontein (judicial)
  Head of State: Thabo Mbeki

• SUDAN
  Official Language: Arabic
  Capital: Khartoum
  Head of State: Omar Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir

• SWAZILAND (Kingdom of)
  Official Languages: English and Siswati
  Capital: Mbabane
  Head of State: King Mswati III

• TANZANIA
  Official Languages: Kiswahili and English
  Capital: Dar es Salaam; Dodoma (administrative)
  Head of State: Benjamin Mkapa

• TOGO
  Official Language: French
  Capital: Lome
  Head of State: Gnassimgbe Eyadema

• TUNISIA (Al-Djoumhouri Attunisia)
  Official Language: Arabic
  Capital: Tunis
  Head of State: Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali

• UGANDA
  Official Language: English, Kiswahili, Luganda, Luo
  Capital: Kampala
  Head of State: Yoweri Museveni

• WESTERN SAHARA
  Official Language: Arabic
  Capital: El Aiun
  Head of State: Mohammed Abdel Aziz

• ZAMBIA
  Official Language: English
  Capital: Lusaka
  Head of State: Frederick Chiluba

• ZIMBABWE
  Official Languages: English, Shona, Ndebele
  Capital: Harare
  Head of State: Robert Gabriel Mugabe