After 17 years of wrangling, African leaders finally launched a new continental free trade zone.
The African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), described as the largest free trade agreement in the world by population, unites 54 of the 55 African nations, with Eritrea being the only country absent.
The two days of long hour’s discussion in Addis Ababa for the annual African Union summit with the theme “Acceleration of AfCFTA implementation”.
The goal of the AfCFTA is to reduce practically all tariffs and increase intra-African trade by 60% by 2034, resulting in an economic bloc of 1.3 billion people and a combined GDP of $3.4 trillion.
African nations presently only trade roughly 15% of their commodities and services with one another, as opposed to more than 65% with European nations.
The World Bank estimates that, if fully implemented, the AfCFTA will help 50 million Africans escape extreme poverty and increase incomes by 9% by 2035.
But implementation has fallen well short of that goal, running into hurdles including disagreements over tariff reductions and border closures caused by the Covid pandemic.
This year’s summit comes at a “delicate moment” for Africa, according to the International Crisis Group (ICG) think tank, citing Ethiopia’s nascent peace process, conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Sahel region, South Sudan and jihadist insurgencies in Somalia and Mozambique.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Western sanctions that followed “have rattled African economies and left many in deep distress”, ICG adds, with food prices shooting up.
While Europe’s internal market is knitted together by energy pipelines, motorways, railways and flight routes, Africa is playing catch-up, with decrepit infrastructure and corruption handicapping the process.
Experts claim that in order for Africa to reach the desired single market, impediments that include everything from pervasive red tape to deeply ingrained protectionism in some nations, must be removed.
“There is a declared political will, but it will take a long time to put in place,” Paul-Simon Handy, regional director of the Institute for Security Studies in Addis Ababa, told AFP.
Dorine Nininahazwe, African Union director of US-headquartered non-profit ONE Campaign, agreed.
“There are fears from certain African countries that with opening borders, they will have an influx of people they cannot control,” Nininahazwe told AFP.
The meeting, which has historically been criticized for being ineffective, will also focus on the continuing conflict in eastern DR Congo.
The mineral-rich east is in disorder thanks to rebels, many of whom are left over from local wars that broke out in the 1990s and the early 2000s. This has led to a diplomatic dispute with Rwanda, which is next door and is charged with supporting the M23 group.
In November of last year, the African Union made considerable progress toward facilitating a peace agreement in Ethiopia between the federal government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front.
In addition, Sudan, Mali, Guinea, and Burkina Faso—four nations that have experienced military takeovers—will look to rejoin the AU.
But their chances are limited, according to Handy.
“The reintegration of these juntas into the AU would be a total renunciation, it will not be the priority at all,” he said.
Macky Sall of Senegal will hand over the rotating one-year AU leadership to Azali Assoumani of the Comoros, president of the tiny Indian Ocean archipelago of over 900,000.
Given his country’s weak diplomatic position, Assoumani, 64, will “need the backing of other top African leaders to carry out the task,” according to ICG.
Without disclosing names, Ethiopia’s foreign ministry spokesperson Meles Alem said on Tuesday that at least 35 presidents and four prime ministers would be present at the summit.
The presidents of Nigeria, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique, Lesotho, Botswana, and Congo-Brazzaville have so far announced that they will travel.
Last year, tensions rose over Israel’s acceptance as an observer at the AU, leading to a rare disagreement inside a group that prioritizes consensus.
A discussion about whether to revoke accreditation was put on hold because of the summit, and a committee was established to look into the matter. The question of whether AU will discuss the subject this year is unclear.
Ref: africanews.com
