Towards the African Economic Community: Legal and Historical Perspectives

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17159/1727-3781/2023/v26i0a15609

Keywords:

Abuja Treaty, African Union, African Economic Union, common market, customs union, free trade area, OAU Charter, Organisation of African Unity

Abstract

This article submits that the 1963 Charter of the Organisation of African Unity provided a legal foundation for continental economic integration. This was followed by successive declarations and legal agreements such as the Lagos Plan of Action, the Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community and the Constitutive Act of the African Union, all of which became more explicit. While the Organisation of African Unity of 1963 and the African Union of 2002 respectively pronounced the direction of the continental organisations, the Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community was then established to translate the vision into actionable activities towards a continental economic community through the establishment of the Regional Economic Communities that would ultimately be the foundation blocks for the integration of the continent. The article shows that all the Regional Economic Communities have a strong legal appeal to achieve African unity and the desire to integrate African economies. Consequently, the African Union has to date attained a continental Free Trade Area and is still to attain a continental customs union and the common market using the same legal architecture, these being stages in developing an African Economic Community. The article also demonstrates that the various Regional Economic Communities owe their existence to the Charter of the Organisation of African Unity or the Lagos Plan of Action or the Abuja Treaty, all under the umbrella of the Constitutive Act of the African Union.

 

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

  • Willie Shumba, UNISA

    Lecturer, National University of Science and Technology, Zimbabwe

References

Bibliography

Literature

Ajala O, Ejiogu A and Lawal A "Understanding Public Sentiment in Relation to the African Continental Free Trade Agreement" 2021 Insight on Africa 127-141 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/09750878211012884

Akonor African Economic Institutions

Akonor K African Economic Institutions (Routledge London 2010) DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203865217

African Union Commission African Union Handbook (African Union Addis Ababa 2021)

Balassa B The Theory of Economic Integration (Allen and Unwin London 1969)

Carbaugh RJ International Economics 9th edn (Thomson South-Western Mason 2004)D'Sa 1983 JAL

D'Sa RM "The Lagos Plan of Action: Legal Mechanisms for Co-operation Between the Organisation of African Unity and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa" 1983 JAL 4-21 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021855300013255

Dugard J International Law: A South African Perspective 4th edn (Juta Cape Town 2016)

Evans MD International Law (Oxford University Press Oxford 2003)

Hwang KD "Some Reflections on African Development Strategies in the 21st Century: From the LPA to NEPAD" 2009 Journal of International and Area Studies 130-148

Janis MW An Introduction to International Law 4th edn (Aspen 2003) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789047413400_004

Jebuni CD "The Role of ECOWAS in Trade Liberalization" in Iqbal Z and Khan MS (eds) Trade Reform and Regional Integration in Africa (IMF Washington DC 1998) 489-506 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-25636-5_8

Krugman PR, Obstfeld M and Melitz MJ International Economics: Theory and Policy 9th edn (Addison-Wesley Boston 2012)

Kuhlmann K and Agutu AL "The African Continental Free Trade Area: Toward a New Legal Model for Trade and Development" 2020 Geo J Int’l L 753-808 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3599438

Laurent P-H "The Diplomacy of the Rome Treaty, 1956-57" 1972 Journal of Contemporary History 209-220 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/002200947200700312

Mangeni F and Juma C Emergent Africa: Evolution of Regional Economic Integration (Headline Books Terra Alta 2019)

Mwale S "An Historical Background to the Formation of COMESA" in Murinde V (ed) The Free Trade Area of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Ashgate Aldershot 2001) 31-40 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315239552-3

Naldi GJ The Organisation of African Unity: An Analysis of Its Role 2nd edn (Mansel London 1999)

Phinnemore D "The European Union: Establishment and Development" in Cini M and Borragán NP-S (eds) European Union Politics 6th edn (Oxford University Press Oxford 2019) 11-30 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/hepl/9780198806530.003.0002

Qureshi AH and Zieglar A International Economic Law 3rd edn (Sweet and Maxwell London 2011)

Robson P Economic Integration in Africa (Routledge London 2011) DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203838365

Salvatore D International Economics 8th edn (Wiley Hoboken 2009)

Welz M Integrating Africa: Decolonization's Legacies, Sovereignty and the African Union (Routledge Abingdon 2013) DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203101452

World Bank The African Continental Free Trade Area: Economic and Distributional Effects (World Bank Washington DC 2020)

International instruments

Agreement Establishing a Tripartite Free Trade Area among the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, the East African Community and the Southern African Development Community (2015)

Agreement Establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (2018)

Agreement Establishing the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (1996)

Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organisation (1994)

AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government First Ordinary Session, Decisions and Declarations of the Assembly: The Durban Declaration in Tribute to the Organization of African Unity on the Occasion of the Launching of the African Union AU Doc ASS/AU/Decl.2(I) (2002)

AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government Seventh Ordinary Session, Decisions and Declarations of the Assembly: Decision on the Moratorium on the Recognition of Regional Economic Communities (RECs) AU Doc ASS/AU/Dec.112(VII)-EX.CL/278(IX) (2006)

AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government Twelfth Extraordinary Session of the Assembly: Decision on the Launch of the Operational Phase of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) AU Doc Ext/Assembly/AU/Dec.1(XII) (2019)

AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government Eighteenth Ordinary Session, Decisions and Declarations of the Assembly: Decision on Boosting Intra-African Trade and Fast Tracking the Continental Free Trade Area Assembly/AU/Dec.394(XVIII), AU Doc EX.CL/700(XX) (2012)

AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government Twenty-Fifth Ordinary Session, Decisions and Declarations of the Assembly: Decision on the Launch of Continental Free Trade Area Negotiations Assembly/AU/Dec.569(XXV), AU Doc Assembly/AU/11(XXV) (2015)

AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government Twenty-Eighth Ordinary Session, Decisions and Declarations of the Assembly: Decision on the Continental Free Trade Area Assembly/AU/Dec.623(XXVIII), AU Doc Assembly/AU/4(XXVIII) (2017)

AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government Thirty-Fifth Ordinary Session, Decisions and Declarations of the Assembly: Decision on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) AU Doc Assembly/AU/Dec. 831(XXXV) (2022)

Charter of the Organisation of African Unity (1963)

Constitutive Act of the African Union (2000)

General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (1947)

Lagos Plan of Action for the Economic Development of Africa, 1980-2000 (1980)

Protocol on Relations Between the African Union and the Regional Economic Communities (2008)

Protocol to the Treaty that Established the African Economic Community Relating to the Pan-African Parliament (2001)

Revised Treaty of the Economic Community of West African States (1993)

Treaty Establishing the Arab Maghreb Union (1989)

Treaty Establishing the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (1993)

Treaty Establishing the Community of Sahel-Saharan States (1998)

Treaty Establishing the Economic Community of Central African States (1983)

Treaty Establishing the European Economic Community (1957)

Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community (1999)

Treaty of the Economic Community of West African States (1975)

Treaty of the Southern African Development Community (1992)

Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community (1991)

Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (1969)

Internet sources

African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat 2022 State Parties https://au-afcfta.org/state-parties/ accessed 24 September 2022

AU 2021 https://au.int/sites/default/files/treaties/36437-sl-AGREEMENT% 20ESTABLISHING%20THE%20AFRICAN%

CONTINENTAL%20FREE%20TRADE%20AREA.pdf

African Union 2021 List of Countries which Have Signed, Ratified/Acceded to the Agreement Establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area https://au.int/sites/default/files/treaties/36437-sl-AGREEMENT%20ESTABLISHING%20THE%20AFRICAN%20CONTINENTAL%20FREE%20TRADE%20AREA.pdf accessed 18 November 2021

African Union 2023 List of the Countries which Have Signed, Ratified/Acceded to the Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community https://au.int/sites/default/files/treaties/37636-sl-TREATY_ESTABLISHING_THE_AFRICAN_ECONOMIC_COMMUNITY.pdf accessed 6 February 2023

COMESA 2023 https://www.comesa.int/quick-facts-about-comesa-2/Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa 2023 Quick Facts About COMESA https://www.comesa.int/quick-facts-about-comesa-2/ accessed 28 January 2023

Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa 2023 What is COMESA? https://www.comesa.int/what-is-comesa/ accessed 28 January 2023

East African Community 2022 The Democratic Republic of the Congo Joins EAC as Its 7th Member https://www.eac.int/press-releases/2402-the-democratic-republic-of-the-congo-joins-eac-as-its-7th-member accessed 31 March 2022

Economic Community of West African States 2022 Member States https://ecowas.int/member_states/ accessed 9 July 2022

Khadiagala GM 2011 Institution Building for African Regionalism (ADB Working Paper on Regional Economic Integration No 85) https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/109596/1/wp-085.pdf accessed 7 June 2021

Organisation of African Unity 1963 Speeches and Statements Made at the First Organization of African Unity (OAU) Summit, May 1963 https://archives.au.int/bitstream/handle/123456789/10452/OAU_Summit_May_1963_Speeches_E.pdf accessed 9 July 2022

Qobo M 2007 The Challenges of Regional Integration in Africa in the Context of Globalisation and the Prospects for a United States of Africa (ISS Paper 145) https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/Paper145h.pdf accessed 30 December 2021

Southern African Development Community 2022 Member States https://www.sadc.int/member-states accessed 18 July 2022

Published

12-06-2023

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Shumba, W. (2023). Towards the African Economic Community: Legal and Historical Perspectives. Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal, 26, (Published on 12 June 2023) pp 1 - 32. https://doi.org/10.17159/1727-3781/2023/v26i0a15609

Similar Articles

1-10 of 1144

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.