Since independence, African countries have been engaged in the processes of unification on the one hand, and implementation of collective development strategies on the other. This has become even more imperative in the present world environment, characterized by increasing globalization influenced mainly by major trade and financial centers, and by the emergence of strong economic blocs in several world regions. African countries have also been engaged in a variety of external partnerships from other countries, aimed at accelerating their development process and participating more actively in world decision making processes

Africa's Consistent Search for Unity

Panafricanism and the African Diaspora

The search for unity in Africa dates back to the pre-independence period. It was greatly influenced by the Pan-Africanist movement spearheaded by the African Diaspora. Marcus Garvey, one of the most prominent figures of the movement, defined Pan Africanism around three main characteristics: shared common historical and cultural values; collective self-sufficiency in development and political independence.
 
The struggle for independence

The concept of Panafricanism was further elaborated by African researchers. Cheikh Anta Diop, in “Nations Nègres et Culture” has established historical and racial links between ancient Ethiopia and Pharaoh’s Egypt, as well as the fact that the latter was the cradle of arts and science. He has further advocated in “Les Fondements Economiques et Culturels d’un Etat Federal d’Afrique Noire” the need, for post-colonial Africa, to strive to reach the level of societal development reached by such entities as empires of Ghana from 3rd to 13th century, followed by that of Mali  up to the 15th century.

These entities had self-contained development frameworks Administration, Justice, Military, Education and Health among others. They fully participated in the advancement of humanity through science, technology, arts and culture. Other strong and large entities existed in East Africa with prosperous centres along the Indian Ocean coast. They were known as trading partners with India, Siam and Far East Asia.

In view of the above historical background, Pan-Africanism has greatly influenced the struggle for independence in Africa, for example, Kwame Nkrumah’s consistent call for  Africa to unite and the Negritude Movement promoted by Leopold Sedar Senghor, in association with Aimé Cesaire.

The search for unity continued to guide African Leaders soon after independence. Two schools of thought emerged among independent African States on the alternatives that were open to the continent for its unification: Casablanca group (which advocated for a rapid unification that would entail the creation of a central governmental authority to reverse the colonial legacy of artificial boundaries) and the Monrovia group. The latter advocated for a more gradual approach that would recognize the colonial boundaries inherited at independence as a starting point for the gradual construction of continental unity. In both groups, there was no dispute about the desirability - even the eventual inevitability - of African unity. What was in question was the modality for realizing it, the speed with which it should be achieved and the form that it should take.

The Organisation of African Unity

The Organisation of African Unity (OAU) that emerged in 1963 was the product of a compromise that was reached between the Casablanca and the Monrovia groups. It was established as an intergovernmental framework to totally liberate the continent from colonial rule. Its guiding principles were good neighbourliness among African States, the respect of the boundaries inherited at independence, the sovereign equality of States, non-interference in one another’s internal affairs and the peaceful settlement of disputes through submission to conciliation, mediation and arbitration. Its main organs were the Assembly of Heads of State and Government, the Council of Ministers and the General Secretariat.

The OAU has thus remained the only continental organization with limitations in terms of attempts to restore larger entities similar to those of the pre-colonial period. The OAU has nevertheless made great contributions, through its Liberation Committee, to the liberation of countries that were still under colonial rule and to the fight against apartheid in South Africa.  Because of the limitations imposed by the strict respect of national sovereignties, OAU has remained mainly a political organization. It could not deal effectively with economic social and cultural issues in spite of several attempts.

An important attempt was to broaden the scope of the AU, through in particular the establishment of an African Economic Community with regional economic communities as its building blocks.

The African Economic Community and the Regional Economic Communities
 
As a follow up to the adoption of the Lagos Plan of Action, a Treaty establishing an Africa Economic community was signed in June 1991 in Abuja, Nigeria. It entered into force on May 1994. Without replacing the OAU, the Abuja Treaty aimed at filling the gap of its Charter in emphasizing need to promote economic, social and cultural development and the integration of African economies in order to increase economic self-reliance, as well as an endogenous and self-sustained development. The Abuja Treaty provides for Regional Economic Communities (RECs) to serve as the vehicles for accelerated integration.

Six stages were to be followed in the establishment of the Community over a period of 34 years in order to culminate in the African Common Market under the auspices of the Community. These are: The establishment of RECs in regions where none existed; The stabilization, within the RECs, of tariff and non-tariff barriers to regional trade, and sectoral integration, coordination and harmonization; The creation, within the RECs,  of free trade areas; The creation, within the RECs, of Customs Union, and inter-RECs coordination and harmonisation of tariff and non-tariff systems; The establishment of an African Common Market and the harmonisation of monetary, financial and fiscal policies; and the consolidation of Common market through, inter - alia, the establishment of such key institutions as a Pan-African Economic and Monetary Union, a single African Central Bank, a single African Currency and a Pan-African Parliament.

Provisions were also made, within the AEC, for an Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). The objective was to involve directly the African peoples through Civil Society Organisations including the private sector, women, the youth and professional associations, in line with the 1990 African Charter for Popular Participation in Development and Transformation adopted in Arusha, Tanzania.

The RECs identified as building blocks of the AEC are:  the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS); the Common Market of Eastern and Southern African States (COMESA) with20 members,  the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) with 11 members,  the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) with … members, the Maghreb Arab Union (MAU) with 5 members, the Intergovernmental Authority for Development (IGAD) with 7 members, the reconstituted  East African community, and the Sahel-Sahara Community (CEN-SAD ) with 18 members.

There are, in addition, other integration entities at sub regional level such as the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA), the Economic and Monetary Union of Central Africa (CEMAC), the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC), as well as River Basins Organizations (Mano, Senegal and Gambia Rivers Basins, Lac Chad Basin, etc. )

The implementation of the Abuja Treaty was translated mainly in terms of institution building. Little or no progress was made with respect to stages 2 to 6 referred to earlier. No continental institution established on the basis of the Treaty has effectively functioned (e.g. the AEC Secretariat, the Parliament and ECOSOC.)

Even the institutions that were created at regional level have brought about confusion in terms of multiple memberships and lack of focus on aspects that really matter for achieving regional integration.

 The African Union

The slow pace of implementation of the Abuja Treaty, at both continental and regional levels, prompted African Heads of State and Government to transform the OAU into an African Union (AU) with the objective of accelerating the implementation of the Abuja Treaty. The Constitutive Act of the AU includes the renaming of the Council of Ministers as the Executive Council and the redesign of the Secretariat into a Commission with 8 Portfolios or Departments covering the whole range of political, social, security cultural and economic issues.

The Constitutive Act has also given life to such organs which were provided for in the Abuja Treaty but were not established, as the Pan African Parliament, the Economic Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC), and the African Court of Peoples and Human Rights.

Contrary to the OAU, the AU brought about such important principles as the rejection of unconstitutional changes of government and the “non-indifference” in the conduct of inter-state affairs. The AU has nevertheless carried over some of the major impediments of the AU, particularly the intangibility of post colonial boundaries and the total sovereignty of each Member State over all domestic matters. Such a situation led to several debates, which are still going on, on the establishment of a Union Government towards a United States of Africa. They culminated with the Accra “Grand Debate on the Union Government”, which, in the Accra Declaration, decided to conduct an audit of the African Union.

The general conclusion of the Audit is that ”there must be a de-construction of the inherited political and economic architecture to make way for the constitution of a new indigenous socio-economic order based on the three pillars of the democratisation of the political and development process, national and continental collective self-reliance and the restitution of an African indigenous social democratic order.”

To be continued

By Makha Dado Sarr

Makha Dado Sarr is Former Special Coordinator for Africa and Least Developed Countries, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations, New York. he is also Former Deputy Executive Secretary, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and Member of the High Level Panel on the Audit of the African Union.