CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Integration is no longer a simple question of propriety, it is an
inevitable strategy of survival and development. The rhythm of globalisation
sustained by the tidal wave of economic liberalization and disparities in the
share of projects, have made it as emergency for African countries to hold each
other’s hands if they wish to expand, strengthen, and integrate their economic
area. - Salim Ahmed Salim, former OAU Secretary
General quoted in Olubomehin
and Kawonishe (2004: 1).
The formation of
regional blocs and groupings has increasingly become a prominent feature of
world politics especially since 1945. This is because regional integration, which
they aim at achieving, has increasingly become a framework for development of
continents all over the world. Thus, the Asian region has Association of South
East Asian Nations (ASEAN), America has North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA)
while Europe has the European Union (EU). Africa, so as not to be left behind
in the race for development via regional integration, established the
Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in 1963. The OAU emerged as a culmination
of efforts by Africans and peoples of African descent to salvage the continent
from the yokes of colonialism, racial prejudice and discrimination and bring
the African peoples much closer together.
Even
though African statesmen believed in continental unity, they were divided on
how to achieve it. This lack of agreement soon assumed institutional form when
“the radicals” held their conference in Casablanca in January 1961 and became
known as the “Casablanca Powers” while “the moderates” held theirs in Monrovia
and consequently became known as the “Monrovia Group”. Although both groups
accepted and agreed on the principle of unity and the need for African states
to federate as confederates, they disagreed in their approaches to the issue.
For instance, while the Casablanca group proposed and created an African
Consultative Assembly with a representative of every African state, the
Monrovia group preferred a unity of aspirations and of actions considered from
the point of view of African social solidarity and political identity. Thus,
African states towed two different paths towards continental unity. This, among
other factors, stagnated the organisation and, as Zdenek Cervenka pointed out
“because of these deep divisions, the OAU represents a largely negative
agreement” (Zdenek, 1977: ix).
At
the first Summit of African Heads of states in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 1963,
which had resulted in the establishment of the OAU, the question of economic
cooperation and integration was one of the principal concerns of the African
leaders and statesmen present and was, therefore, a prominent agenda. At
subsequent Summits, African leaders emphasised regional cooperation and
integration. This however, met with little success until the 1979 summit in
Monrovia where the decision to establish an African Common Market was
extensively discussed and eventually reached. This was sketched out in greater
detail in Lagos, in 1980, during an extraordinary Summit and eventually led to
what became known as the “Lagos Plan of Action”. In the document, major
directions to follow in order to achieve the economic integration of the
continent were outlined, with Africa’s heads of states and governments
committing to promote economic and social development and the integration of
African economies in order to increase self-sufficiency and favour the
endogenous and self-sustained development of the continent. At the Abuja,
Nigeria, Summit, in June 1991, the constituent instrument of the African
Economic Community (AEC) was finalised. With the Treaty of Abuja, an era of
functional reform was inaugurated in the life of the OAU. The AEC displayed a
commitment on the part of African Heads of State and Government to create over
a specific period of time an African Economic Community to ensure economic,
social and cultural integration in Africa.
While
it lasted, the OAU failed to successfully integrate African economies, solve
conflicts within and among African states, bring development, and improve the
standard of living of Africans. And because the two main issues, which it
directed its energies at – colonialism and apartheid in South Africa – are no
longer present in Africa, it needed to be restructured in a way that would make
it relevant to the challenges of a globalised and unipolar world; hence, its
metamorphosis into the African Union (AU) in 2001. It was officially flagged
off on 9 July 2002 (Olubomehin and Kawonishe, 2004: 1).
Despite initial
optimism that marked the establishment of the AU, skeptics have continued to
express doubt about the ability of the new organization (the AU) to succeed
where the old (the OAU) failed. They contend that the structural challenges
that impeded the performance of the OAU still persist and may likely interfere
with the smooth functioning of the AU.
These
include: how to promote inter and intra African trade; the low level or
inadequate/inefficient infrastructures, especially transport and communications,
in Africa; how to make African governments incorporate regional agreements into
national policies; the existence of civil strives
and conflicts in Africa; lack of sustained political commitment to put in place
agreed policies and plans; and how to incorporate the generality of Africans
into integration schemes in the continent.
It
is against this backdrop that this study appraises the challenges that have
confronted the AU in its bid to integrate Africa and how the organization has
fared in meeting these challenges. Specifically, it focuses on the impact of
the transformation of the OAU to the AU on intra-African trade as well as on
the effect of the implementation of the Democratization programme of the AU on
the integration of member states of the AU member states between 2001 and 2011.
1.1
Statement of the Problem
The
establishment of the Organisation for African Unity (OAU) by African countries
soon
on attainment of
independence in the 1960s was a refection of the deep-seated need felt by
pioneer African political leaders, both at home and in the Diaspora for unity,
cooperation and integration of Africa as the surest part to development. But
although African policy makers entertained the idea of continental unity at
these early stages of the OAU, they did not share a common view on how to
attain it. In like manner, following the transformation of the OAU into the AU,
opinion was sharply divided among analysts and commentators on the viability of
the new organization and its capacity to enthrone the much needed integration
of the African continent. While some felt that “The move from the OAU to the AU
is perhaps one of the most relevant and historic acts that African Leaders as
collective body have done to date” (Muchie, 2001: 30). To some critical
observers however, the transformation was merely a change in nomenclature and
the new organization was therefore not expected to achieve anything beyond the
rhetorical.
As
a matter of fact, some more critical observers suggested that the launching of
the NEPAD along side the transformation of the OAU to the AU bore an uncanny
resemblance with the dichotomous groupings that characterized the formation of
the OAU. Put simply, they saw the launching of the NEPAD as an attempt to
perpetuate the part of dependency that had characterized the relationship
between African countries and the Western industrialized nations over the years
in order to frustrate the pursuit of the vision of an authentic African
integration as espoused by some patriotic African leaders at the time. They therefore
expressed misgivings about the capacity of the AU to better the performance of
the OAU before it in terms of African integration.
While a number
of studies such as (Shinkaiye, 2006; Sarbo, 2010; Olubomehin and Kawonishe,
2004; and Nzewi, 2009 among others) have attempted an assessment of the
performance of the AU in this regard, such studies are by no means exhaustive.
In line with their disciplinary affiliations, commentators in extant literature
have tended to compartmentalize their discussions into the political or
economic aspects of the AU’s performance and assigned to it various degrees of
failures or successes. This study is therefore an attempt to contribute to the
earlier efforts so as to aid understanding of the challenges of African
integration to the present aid. To do that, the study explores the performance
of the organization along the two major planks of its objectives, viz: economic
integration and democratic consolidation. Thus, the study will probe the
following research questions:
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