Yale Model African Union
Construction cranes and the Addis Ababa skyline at sunset
09The host city

Welcome to Africa’s diplomatic capital.

Addis Ababa is both the political heart of modern Ethiopia and a centre of continental diplomacy.

Addis Ababa at dusk · EthiopiaJean Rebiffé · CC BY 2.0
Addis AbabaThe host city01 / 02
Explore Addis Ababa
Explore Addis AbabaOur host city
Open the language note · meaning, sound and context

A highland capital.
A continental address.

Home to the African Union and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Addis is where diplomacy sits alongside an everyday city of markets, worship, coffee and constant change.

2,355 m
Approximate elevation
A language heard across the capital
UTC+3
East Africa Time
ETB
Ethiopian birr
Medhane Alem Cathedral rising above trees and buildings in Addis Ababa
Medhane Alem Cathedral · Addis AbabaPexels contributor
Diplomatic capital

Institutions live inside a city.

Addis Ababa is home to the headquarters of the African Union and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.

At street level

Movement, memory
and modernity.

Addis is not only a diplomatic map point. Markets, neighbourhood cafés, religious life and a rapidly changing skyline give the capital its everyday rhythm.

Fruit vendors and customers on a busy Addis Ababa market street
Market life · Addis AbabaPexels contributor
Addis Ababa illuminated at night beneath the Entoto hills
Addis Ababa after dark · EthiopiaAbenezer Shewaga / Unsplash
“New flower” is not only a translation. It is a useful way to read a city still becoming itself.
Continue the journey

Language, coffee, arrival and the practical city.

Open the delegate city guide