Feature Article : "The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of Modernghana.com."

(A GNA feature by Mohammed Nurudeen Issahaq)

Accra, Sept. 15, GNA - The vision of a united, peaceful and prosperous Africa has been a long cherished but elusive ideal whose early advocates included Marcus Garvey; George Padmore; W.E.B. DuBois; Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Haile Selassie of Ethiopia; Gamel Abdul-Nasser of Egypt and Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya, among others.

The idea found expression in the establishment of the Union of African States (UAS), an early Pan-Africanist confederacy initiated at the dawn of the 1960s, which provided foundations for the creation of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) on May 25, 1963.

In Africa's post-independence era, the OAU and other earlier regional groups, apparently preoccupied with the task of nation-building and concerned more about protecting their newly-won sovereignty, did not give much attention to the promotion of economic and social interaction among African countries, the majority of them still preferring the cozy convenience of continued dependence on their former colonial rulers.

However, driven by the exigencies of contemporary times notably globalization and the proliferation of regional trade blocs around the world, African leaders have since the early 1990s, pursued the goal of integration with renewed vigour. In the face of these developments, and confronted by harsh realities such as low per capita income, low productivity, slow pace of development and fundamentally fragile economies, African nations came to the realisation that continuing to stand or act individually on the increasingly volatile global, socio-politico-economic arena could only spell their doom.

The paradox of Africa is that it is one continent endowed with abundant natural and human resources, yet it is also the most impoverished region of the world. About half of Africa's one billion inhabitants currently live on less than $1.00 per day.

After being mentioned in passing at various continental forums, the idea of creating an African Union (AU) along the same lines as the European Union (EU) was vigorously revived in the mid-1990s, this time spearheaded by the Libyan Leader, Muammar al-Qaddafi. The move was concretized with the adoption of the Sirte Declaration at a conference of OAU Heads of State and Government in the Libyan town of Sirte on September 9, 1999, calling for the creation of an African Union.

Although established in 2001, the AU was formally inaugurated to replace the OAU on July 9, 2002 in Durban, South Africa. The birth of the AU was hailed with hope and euphoria across the African continent, as well as among well-wishers and people of African descent throughout the world. To a large extent, the event was regarded as a re-awakening of the Pan-Africanist dream. More importantly, it was also seen as a clarion call to end Africa's nightmare of poverty and underdevelopment.

At its inauguration in 2002, the AU set itself a 10-year grace period, dubbed the 'period of stabilization,' within which it would turn things around and set Africa on the path to sustainable development. Among other benefits, integration was expected to bring along prospects such as the opening up of larger regional markets for African producers and consumers. The Union has set as its primary targets the acceleration of economic, political and social integration of Africa, with the establishment of a United States of Africa as its ultimate goal. It also places premium on the promotion of human rights, as well as the entrenchment of democracy and good governance on the African continent.


Challenges:
Indeed the objectives of the AU are lofty, and its benefits immense, but Africa's road to integration is fraught with formidable challenges. Seven years after its inauguration, the AU is yet to put its act together. The vast majority of Africa's population is yet to know about the AU and to feel its impact in their everyday lives. The momentum, the spark that is needed to ignite the flame of integration has obviously not occurred yet because apart from the routine conferences, things are a bit too quiet for comfort on the AU front.

The impediments confronting the Union are both externally and internally generated – bad governance, huge foreign debts, crushing poverty and endemic armed conflicts, which together with a myriad of other constraints; present a formidable threat to the attainment of the ideal of a unified Continent. The dilemma posed by the dichotomy between state sovereignty and regional integration is another obstacle that must be surmounted.

There are, also, the problems created by territorial boundaries. Travelling across the border of one African country to the next remains a nightmare, with numerous road checkpoints where ordinary travellers and traders routinely have to pay bribes to security personnel on duty in order to get through. This does not only create a disincentive but is also a direct contravention of the principle of free movement of people, goods and capital as enshrined in the charters of both the AU and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

By far the most outstanding and most crucial challenge confronting the AU and Africa's quest for integration, however, is the apparent non-performance of the various Regional Economic Communities (RECs) on the Continent. The reactivation and harmonization of the RECs is what would actually propel Africa's integration process forward. Considering the large membership of the AU (53 nations) and other peculiar characteristics of the African continent, the RECs are essential building blocks or linchpins whose effective function is a vital prerequisite to any successful integration process on the Continent.

Unfortunately, long after the attainment of political independence, African nations have not shaken their colonial-era economic patterns, with each one of them struggling to undo a long-standing legacy dominated by trade with their former colonial rulers rather than with each other. Whereas intra-African trade in 1998 stood at about 11.4 per cent, trade between African nations and the industrialized world as a whole was 61.2 per cent during the same period, out of which trade with the EU alone accounted for more than 40 per cent. That picture remains pretty much the same even today.

The issue of concern here is that the prevailing terms of trade between Africa and the developed world, have been far from favourable to African nations. One would expect the development partners to demonstrate that they are true partners by supporting African states to industrialise their economies and set them on the path of sustainable development, rather than dolling out aid money.

Significantly, however, the question of external support from Europe and other parts of the developed world could become a double-edged sword. On the African continent where no effective supranational institutions exist yet, the situation is further worsened by the division of the countries into Francophone, Anglophone and Luxophone zones. But the exclusive support of a 'godfather' in the African scenario – France, Britain or Portugal, for instance – on the basis of past colonial ties, tends to produce 'zones of influence' which can only exacerbate the prevailing trend of dependency on the Continent. Unfortunately, the 'godfather syndrome' is already a reality in African politics. To a large extent, it is responsible for the low level of trade and cooperation among African countries and, for that matter, the ineffectiveness of the RECs.

Europe's Experience:
In the study of regional integration, the EU is said to have become a living laboratory where any part of the world embarking on the exercise of integration must necessarily visit for a tip or two. Therefore, it would be useful at this juncture to take a brief glance at Europe's experience. From the perspective of history, the idea of European integration is rooted in the tragic events of the World Wars, which set nations in Europe on the search for lasting peace and co-operation, following the devastation of their major cities and the destruction of their economies during several years of battles. The search for peace eventually led to the quest for integration. In deed, the legacy of Jean Monnet, who is reputed as one of the founding fathers of the European Community, lies in his desire to remove forever the causes of war that periodically tore Europe apart.

Identifying the lack of unity as the cause of strife between European states, French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman in his May 9, 1950 declaration in Paris went on to table the French Government's proposal which placed Franco-German production of coal and steel under a common 'high authority', and which eventually led to the formation of the European Coal and Steel Commission (ECSC) in 1951. Originally, the Commission comprised six countries - France, Italy, the Federal Republic of Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands, and Luxembourg. It was envisaged that this move would bring about a common cause or unity of purpose, thus providing the foundation for a deeper collaboration between countries, “whose conflicting interests have for a long time kept them bloodily engaged”.

About six decades down the lane, the EU has not only expanded in terms of membership (currently 28 nations) but has also become the world's most successful example of regional integration, reaping the benefits (as well as challenges) that come along with a virtually borderless Continent and a huge market.

The EU approach to integration, according to experts, is in line with Functionalist thought, which places emphasis on cooperation in the economic, social, and technological spheres. It draws a clear distinction between the utilitarian welfare aspects of inter-state relations, and the political aspects dealing with law and order, security and sovereignty. The functionalist approach seeks to shift emphasis from political issues which divide, to those social issues in which the interest of the people is plainly identical and collective. “…shift the emphasis from power to problem and purpose”, in the words of Ernst Haas [1964]. By such a strategy it is both essential and possible to replace mutual suspicion with growing trust that would promote peaceful relations and extend co-operation to many more sectors than those intended originally.

The Here and Now:
Deutsch argued that groups of countries would integrate or come together to form unions when they are confronted with a common threat (such as the devastating inter-state wars in the case of Europe). Although in Africa's particular circumstances there is no history of bloody inter-state conflicts, there is the combined scourge of poverty, hunger and disease. Arguably, the devastation and misery caused by these conditions surpass that experienced by Europe in the two World Wars and should, therefore, suffice as a motivating factor or catalyst to bring African countries together to seek common solutions to the problems that afflict their people. Continued    Source: GNA - Ghana News Agency

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