Regional organisations in Africa: Overlap, collaboration and action

(1)

26 Ml

4. Regional organisations in Africa and countries members

Source auteur

"

AMU

,.

CEN·SAD

"

ECCAS SAOC

Mean score per REC

Free movement of persons

0,0

Trade integration

0,0

V

.

V

,

COMESA 0.268 IGAO CAEMC COMESA

,

WAEMU

V

.

,

"

V

. ECOWAS

,

EAC Average/8 RECs 0.517

ECCAS

I

AMU SADC

0.400

1

0.493 0530

IGAD

u

'

CEN-SAD

0.454 1 0.479

l

CEN-SAD IGAD

l

10353 0.505

1

ECOWAS

l

SADC 0.4421 0508 ECCAS 0.526 1 COMESA 0.572 Average/8 RECs 0.546

V

1 EAC 0.715 AMU 0.681 .

.

l

ECOWAS • 0.800 1 EAC 0780

M15.

Overlaps between the regional organisations in Africa

Source auteur I \ CEN•SAD ECOIVAS

----,

..

_8ér,in

...

_,

,

Cape Verde

'

8uikina Faso

'

Gambta

,

Côte dlvoîre _\ _Ghana

1 GuhX'a+Bissau 1 Gu!l)('a

\ Ma:h I Ube11a MOf'OC<O

Nrget" IVAEMU

'

Senegal - - J Ntgetia Mauntan,a Algeria

'

_,

____

_Togo _{_,}_, ; S,eualeone h.11\1S1à

Somalla

(~ O;iboott _E1itrea (OMESA

Sudan _Eth_1o_p1c1

Ceoual African _IGAD

Republic

CAEMC _(h•d

Cameroon I

Equat()(ial Guinea

Gabon _/ Uganda

Repubhc of the Congo Burunch )

Rwanda _SO<Jdan

..

-

7

du Sud

,,,,...

Sao lomeandPnnc,pe _Oemocratic

~ dagasc;;r Republlcof

the Congo Mavflnus

Angola Mol<1wi

---

Se)•chel le'; Swaziland

Zambia

Zimbabw!'

SADC South Afm:a

Botswana Lesotho

Moli!mbique

Namibia

- -RE( - - - Othtr organlz:ations

1,0

Fig.

7. Average scores

for

the free movement

of people and the trade integration

. Source BAD 2016 [see note page 68]

EAC

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REGIONAL ORGANISATIONS IN AFRICA:

OVERLAP, COLLABORATION AND ACTION

For Africa, with its 1.15 billion inhabitants in

2015, a market of 54 countries and a young, rapidly growing population, the opportunities

are great. But the continent's

transforma-tion and development must be inclusive and

African regional organisations have a key role to play in integrating the different regions into

the process of change.

• New places for public policy

making?

The regional integration process is generally

economically and politically motivated. Against

the backdrop of globalisation. the states are seeking to increase their influence in interna

-tional negotiations. The complexity of d eve-lopment processes and environmental issues.

their cross-border nature and the increase

in tensions and conflicts are also driving the

states to cooperate within the regîonal areas

under construction. African integration gained momentum in 2002. when the Organisation of

African Unity (OAU) became the African Union (AU). But there are many regional organisa

-tions in Africa that form a complex and dyna-mic architecture. These organisations overlap and some countries are members of several of them. such as the Democratic Republic of the

Congo. which belongs to ECCAS. COMESA

and SADC. or Uganda. which belongs to

CO-MESA. IGAD and EAC. This complexity

some-times hampers coordination initiatives. since each organisation applies different standards and controls. as with UEMOA and ECOWAS. Today. the African Union's integration strate

-gy is based on the use of Regional Economie

Communities (RECs) as "milestones" leading to the creation of a single continental trade

bloc. However, although the Abuja Treaty pr o-vides for the creation of five RE Cs corr espon-ding to the five regions initially recognised by the OAU. there are still eight RE Cs at present

Few regional organisations truly benefit from

the transfer of sovereignty: this is the case. but

still very partially, for COMESA and UEMOA. SADC and ECOWAS are playing an increa

-singly important role in terms of peace and

security. ECOWAS and EAC have introduced a community passport to facilitate the

move-ment of people and to build a regional identity.

Sorne smaller regional organisations. which

include a number of states for a specific pr o-blem. have made real progress in terms of coordination. such as the Organisation pour la mise en valeur du fleuve Sénégal (OMVS

-Senegal River development organisation) for water management ln addition to these re

-gional treaties. informai cross-border integra

-tion zones are being created in Africa. An

eco-nomic zone is being developed around Nigeria.

with cross-border trade. especially in food pro

-ducts. The Sikasso-Khorogo-Bobo Dioulasso zone, which straddles three countries but has

cultural unity. is contributing to informai int e-gration. And large-scale transnational urban

basins are taking shape. such as the one in the Gulf of Guinea. which stretches from Abidjan in Côte d'Ivoire to Port Harcourt in Nigeria.

• Progress in regional integration

ln order to evaluate progress made in terms of regional integration. the African Union

Commission examines 16 indicators reflecting

the Africa Regional lntegration Index in five key fields: trade integration. productive integra

-tion. regional infrastructure, the free m ove-ment of people. and financial and macroeco-nomic integration. The examples of financial

and macroeconomic integration and the free movement of people show that. depending on the criterion selected. the gaps between regional economic areas vary in terms of per -formance.

To strengthen Africa's position in a context of

globalisation. continental organisations have been created under the OAU and later the AU.

The establishment of NEPAD in 2001 reflects

the continent's political will to follow "a path of

sustainable growth and development. and, at

the same time. to participate actively in the world economy and body politic".

• Agriculture and rural areas:

leverage for integration

Sorne regional organisations have developed specific policies for the agricultural sector: this

is the case of the UEMOA Agricultural Policy (UAP) in 2002 and of ECOWAS with ECOWAP

in 2005. NEPAD. with the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme

(CAADP). is continuing these coordination efforts on agricultural and rural policies. Reco

-gnising that the majority of Africans live in rural areas. NEPAD's "Rural Futures" programme seeks to boost action in sectors that drive growth: infrastructure. human resources.

agriculture. environment. culture. science and

technology On the assumption of an increase

in productivity and in agricultural production

through market integration. these agricultural

and rural policy frameworks increasingly take

into account the importance of territories,

with decentralisation and greater stakeholder involvement in natural resource management. Rural areas in Africa and their small towns are

undoubtedly a basis for quieter development

than the growth of large cities. but also a sou

n-der one for the African continent.

ECOWAS - Economie Community of West African States

CEMAC - Communauté économique et moné

-taire des Etats de l~frique Centrale (Monetary and

Economie Community of Central Africa)

CEN-SAO - Communauté des États sahélo·saha

-riens (Community of Sahel-Saharan States)

COMESA - Common Market for Eastern and Sou -thern Africa

EAC • East African Community I Communauté est

-ilfrir.aine

IGAD- lntergovernmental Authorityon Devefopment NEPAO -New Partnership for Africa's Oeve/opment

SAOC - Southern African Oevelopment Community AU- African Union

UE1'v/OA - Union économique et monétaire Ouest

Africaine (West African Economie and Monetary

Union)

UMA - Union du Maghreb arabe (Arab Maghreb

Union)