REGIONAL BODIES
African regional bodies refer to organizations or institutions that are established to promote cooperation, integration, and development among countries within specific regions of the African continent. These bodies often focus on economic, political, social, and security-related issues:
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS):
Member States
The Heads of State and Government of fifteen West African Countries established the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) when they signed the ECOWAS Treaty on the 28th of May 1975 in Lagos, Nigeria.
The Treaty of Lagos was signed by the 15 Heads of State and government of Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Sénégal and Togo, with its stated mission to promote economic integration across the region. The Senegalese President was represented by the Minister for Foreign Affairs. Cabo Verde joined the union in 1977. The only Arabic-speaking Member Mauritania withdrew in December 2000. Mauritania recently signed a new associate-membership agreement in August 2017.
The ECOWAS region, which spans an area of 5.2 million square kilometres. The Member States are Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Sénégal and Togo.
Considered one of the pillars of the African Economic Community, ECOWAS was set up to foster the ideal of collective self-sufficiency for its member states. As a trading union, it is also meant to create a single, large trading bloc through economic cooperation.
Integrated economic activities as envisaged in the area that has a combined GDP of $734.8 billion, revolve around but are not limited to industry, transport, telecommunications, energy, agriculture, natural resources, commerce, monetary and financial issues, social as well as cultural matters.
In 2007, ECOWAS Secretariat was transformed into a Commission. The Commission headed by the President, assisted by a Vice President, thirteen Commissioners and the Auditor-General of ECOWAS Institutions, comprising experienced bureaucrats who are providing the leadership in this new orientation.
As part of this renewal process, ECOWAS is implementing critical and strategic programmes that will deepen cohesion and progressively eliminate identified barriers to full integration. In this way, the estimated 300 million citizens of the community can ultimately take ownership for the realization of the new vision of moving from an ECOWAS of States to an “ECOWAS of the People: Peace and Prosperity to All”. by 2050.
The headquarters of ECOWAS is in Abuja, Nigeria.
AIM
The aim of the Community is to promote co-operation and integration, leading to the establishment of an economic union in West Africa in order to raise the living standards of its peoples, and to maintain and enhance economic stability, foster relations-among Member States and contribute to the progress and development of the African continent.
OBJECTIVES
- The harmonisation and co-ordination of national policies and the promotion of integration programmes, projects and activities, particularly in food, agriculture and natural resources, industry, transport and communications, energy, trade, money and finance, taxation, economic reform policies, human resources, education, information, culture, science, technology, services, health, tourism, legal matters;
- The harmonisation and co-ordination of policies for the protection of the environment;
- The promotion of the establishment of joint production enterprises;
- The establishment of a common market through;
- The liberalisation of trade by the abolition, among Member States, of customs duties levied on imports and exports, and the abolition, among Member States, of non-tariff barriers in order to establish a free trade area at the Community level;
- The adoption of a common external tariff and a common trade policy vis-a-vis third countries;
- The removal, between Member States, of obstacles to the free movement of persons, goods, services and capital, and to the right of residence and establishment;
- The establishment of an economic union through the adoption of common policies in the economic, financial, social and cultural sectors, and the creation of a monetary union.
- The promotion of joint ventures by private sector enterprises and other economic operators, in particular through the adoption of a regional agreement on cross- border investments;
- The adoption of measures for the integration of the private sectors, particularly the creation of an enabling environment to promote small and medium scale enterprises;
- The establishment of an enabling legal environment;
- The harmonisation of national investment codes leading to the adoption of a single Community investment code;
- The harmonisation of standards and measures;
- The promotion of balanced development of the region, paying attention to the special problems of each Member State particularly those of landlocked and small island Member States;
- The encouragement and strengthening of relations and the promotion of the flow of information particularly among rural populations, women and youth organisations and socio-professional organisations such as associations of the media, business men and women, workers, and trade unions;
- The adoption of a Community population policy which takes into account the need for a balance between demographic factors and socio-economic development;
- The establishment of a fund for co-operation, compensation and development; and
- Any other activity that Member States may decide to undertake jointly with a view to attaining Community objectives.
VISION
A borderless region where the population has access to its abundant resources and is able to exploit them through the creation of opportunities under a sustainable environment. § An integrated region where the population enjoys free movement, access to efficient education and health systems, engage in economic and commercial activities and live in dignity, in an environment of peace and security.
East African Community (EAC):
The East African Community (EAC) is a regional intergovernmental organisation of seven (7) Partner States: The Republic of Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of Kenya, the Republic of Rwanda, the Republic of South Sudan, the Republic of Uganda, and the United Republic of Tanzania, with its headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.
The EAC Summit of Heads of State admitted the Federal Republic of Somalia into the East African Community on 24th November, 2023. Subsequently, the Federal Republic of Somalia signed the Treaty of Accession to the EAC Treaty on 15th December, 2023. The Federal Republic of Somalia will become a full member once the instruments of ratification of the EAC Treaty are deposited with the Secretary General.
The EAC is home to an estimated 283.7 million citizens, of which over 30% is urban population. With a land area of 4.8 million square kilometres and a combined Gross Domestic Product of US$ 305.3 billion, its realisation bears great strategic and geopolitical significance and prospects for the renewed and reinvigorated EAC.
The work of the EAC is guided by its Treaty which established the Community. It was signed on 30 November, 1999 and entered into force on 7 July, 2000 following its ratification by the original three Partner States – Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The Republic of Rwanda and the Republic of Burundi acceded to the EAC Treaty on 18 June, 2007 and became full Members of the Community with effect from 1 July, 2007. The Republic of South Sudan acceded to the Treaty on 15 April, 2016 and become a full Member on 15 August, 2016, while the Democratic Republic of the Congo acceded to the EAC Treaty on 8 April, 2022 and became a full member on 11 July, 2022. The Federal Republic of Somalia was admitted into the EAC 24 November, 2023 and is in the process of becoming a full member.
As one of the fastest growing regional economic blocs in the world, the EAC is widening and deepening co-operation among the Partner States in various key spheres for their mutual benefit. These spheres include political, economic and social.
At the moment, the regional integration process is in full swing as reflected by the encouraging progress of the East African Customs Union, the establishment of the Common Market in 2010 and the implementation of the East African Monetary Union Protocol.
Current status
The process towards an East African Federation is being fast tracked, underscoring the serious determination of the East African leadership and citizens to construct a powerful and sustainable East African economic and political bloc. In May 2017, the EAC Heads of State adopted the Political Confederation as a transitional model of the East African Political Federation.
Southern African Development Community (SADC):
The origin and history of the SADC
The origins of SADC are in the 1960s and 1970s, when the leaders of majority-ruled countries and national liberation movements coordinated their political, diplomatic and military struggles to bring an end to colonial and white-minority rule in southern Africa. The immediate forerunner of the political and security cooperation leg of today’s SADC was the informal Frontline States (FLS) grouping. It was formed in 1980.
The Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC) was the forerunner of the socio-economic cooperation leg of today’s SADC. The adoption by nine majority-ruled southern African countries of the Lusaka declaration on 1 April 1980 paved the way for the formal establishment of SADCC in April 1980.
Membership of the FLS and SADCC sometimes differed.
SADCC was transformed into SADC on 17 August 1992, with the adoption by the founding members of SADCC and newly independent Namibia of the Windhoek declaration and treaty establishing SADC. The 1992 SADC provided for both socio-economic cooperation and political and security cooperation. In reality, the FLS was dissolved only in 1994, after South Africa’s first democratic elections. Subsequent efforts to place political and security cooperation on a firm institutional footing under SADC’s umbrella failed.
On 14 August 2001, the 1992 SADC treaty was amended. The amendment heralded the overhaul of the structures, policies and procedures of SADC, a process which is ongoing. One of the changes is that political and security cooperation is institutionalised in the Organ on Politics, Defence and Security (OPDS); one of the principal SADC bodies. It is subject to the oversight of the organisation’s supreme body, the Summit, which comprises the heads of state or government.
The organisation holds its own multi-sport event in the form of the SADC Games, which was first held in 2004 in Maputo. Originally planned for an earlier date in Malawi and Lesotho, organisational issues led to abandonment of the plan and the SADC issuing a fine of $100,000 against Malawi. The first event in 2004 in Maputo resulted in over 1000 youths under-20 from 10 countries taking part in a sports programme including athletics, football, netball, boxing and basketball.
In 2012, the SADC deployed peacekeepers to the Democratic Republic of Congo in order to counter a rebel threat. The deployed troops were supplied by Tanzania, Malawai, and South Africa.
In August 2019 SADC adopted Swahili as its fourth working language, alongside English, French and Portuguese. Kiswahili – a lingua franca in the African Great Lakes region, other parts of East Africa, and to a lesser degree, parts of Southern Africa – is an official language of Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda and of the African Union.
SADC FTA
The SADC Free Trade Area was established in August 2008, after the implementation of the SADC Protocol on Trade in 2000 laid the foundation for its formation. Its original members were Botswana, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Eswatini, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe,[25] with Malawi and Seychelles joining later. Of the 15 SADC member states, only Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo are not yet participating, however Angolan trade minister Joffre Van-Dúnen Júnior said in Luanda that his ministry is working to create conditions for Angola’s accession to the SADC Free Trade Area in 2019. The SADC-Customs Union, scheduled to be established by 2010 according to SADC’s Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP), is unlikely to become reality in the near future. This is because the European Union’s Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) with their inherent extra-regional freetrade regimes provided for several SADC members more benefits than deeper regional market integration within the framework of a SADC-Customs Union. Since these SADC countries formed four different groupings to negotiate and implement different Economic Partnership Agreements with European Union, the chance to establish a SADC-wide common external tariff as prerequisite for a regional customs union is missed.[28]
On Wednesday 22 October 2008, SADC joined with the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa and the East African Community to form the African Free Trade Zone, including all members of each of the organizations. The leaders of the three trading blocs agreed to create a single free trade zone, the African Free Trade Zone, consisting of 26 countries with a GDP of an estimated $624bn (£382.9bn). It is hoped the African Free Trade Zone agreement would ease access to markets within the zone and end problems arising from the fact that several of the member countries belong to multiple groups.
The African Free Trade Zone effective has been more than a hundred years in the making—a trade zone spanning the whole African continent from Cape to Cairo and envisioned by Cecil Rhodes and other British imperialists in the 1890s. The only difference is that the African Free Trade Zone is the creation of independent African Countries. The idea is a free trade zone spanning the whole continent from the Cape to Cairo (Cape Town in the Republic of South Africa to Cairo in Egypt).
In addition to eliminating duplicative membership and the problem member states also participating in other regional economic cooperation schemes and regional political and security cooperation schemes that may compete with or undermine each other, the African Free Trade Zone further aims to strengthen the bloc’s bargaining power when negotiating international deals.
Pursuant to the SADC goal of more integration, Botswana and Namibia signed an agreement in February 2023 allowing citizens to travel between the two countries using only identity cards, with passports no longer being needed.] Botswana has held talks with Zimbabwe to achieve a similar deal, and expects to open talks with Zambia.
Challenges facing member countries
SADC countries face many social, development, economic, trade, education, health, diplomatic, defense, security and political challenges. Some of these challenges cannot be tackled effectively by individual members. Cattle diseases and organised-crime gangs know no boundaries. War in one country can suck in its neighbours and damage their economies. The sustainable development that trade could bring is threatened by the existence of different product standards and tariff regimes, weak customs infrastructure and bad roads. The socio-economic and political and security cooperation aims of SADC are equally wide-ranging, and intended to address the various common challenges.
One significant challenge is that member states also participate in other regional economic cooperation schemes and regional political and security cooperation schemes that may compete with or undermine SADC’s aims. For example, South Africa and Botswana both belong to the Southern Africa Customs Union, Zambia is a part of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, and Tanzania is a member of the East African Community.
According to Human Rights Watch, “SADC has been criticized for its laxity on making human rights compliance within its member states a priority”.
Structure and decision-making procedures
The organization has six principal bodies:
- The Summit, comprising heads of state or heads of government
- Organ on Politics, Defense and Security
- Council of Ministers
- SADC Tribunal
- SADC National Committees (SNCs)
- Secretariat
Except for the Tribunal (based in Windhoek, Namibia), SNCs and Secretariat, decision-making is by consensus.
Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA):
The history of COMESA began in December 1994 when it was formed to replace the former Preferential Trade Area (PTA) which had existed from the earlier days of 1981. COMESA (as defined by its Treaty) was established ‘as an organisation of free independent sovereign states which have agreed to co-operate in developing their natural and human resources for the good of all their people’ and as such it has a wide-ranging series of objectives which necessarily include in its priorities the promotion of peace and security in the region.
However, due to COMESA’s economic history and background its main focus is on the formation of a large economic and trading unit that is capable of overcoming some of the barriers that are faced by individual states.
COMESA’s current strategy can thus be summed up in the phrase ‘economic prosperity through regional integration’. With its 21 Member States, population of over 640 million, a Gross Domestic Product of $1.0 trillion and a global export/import trade in goods worth US$ 383 billion, COMESA forms a major market place for both internal and external trading.
Geographically, COMESA is almost two thirds of the African Continent with an area of 12 Million (sq km).
Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD):
The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in Eastern Africa was created in 1996 to supersede the Intergovernmental Authority on Drought and Development (IGADD) which was founded in 1986 to mitigate the effects of the recurring severe droughts and other natural disasters that resulted in widespread famine, ecological degradation and economic hardship in the region. Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda – took action through the United Nations to establish the intergovernmental body for development and drought control in their region. Eritrea became the seventh member after attaining independence in 1993 and in 2011 South Sudan joined IGAD as the eighth member state.
With the new emerging political and socio-economic challenges, the assembly of Heads of State and Government, meeting in Addis Ababa in April 1995, resolved to revitalize IGADD and expand areas of cooperation among Member States. The new and revitalized IGAD was launched during the 5th Summit of IGAD Assembly of Heads of State and Government held on 25-26 November 1996 in Djibouti. The Summit endorsed the decision to enhance regional cooperation in three priority areas of food security and environmental protection, economic cooperation, regional integration and social development peace and security.
IGAD Vision and Mission Statements
The founding leaders of IGAD were motivated by a vision where the people of the region would develop a regional identity, live in peace and enjoy a safe environment alleviating poverty through appropriate and effective sustainable development programmes. The IGAD Secretariat as the executive body of the Authority was given the mandate to achieve this goal.
The IGAD Vision 2050 is clustered into three-phased transformative programme. Each of the 10 years focuses on a specific goal. The first phase looks at application of STI in a natural resource-based economy; the second and third phases are anchored on industrialisation and knowledge driven diversification of regional economies, respectively. The broad key intervention areas are food security, social economic development, sustainable management of transboundary resources in support of development and Climate change management, Peace and Security.
The first ten years – within which the current strategy 2021-2025 falls – prioritises structural transformation of the region through value addition and industrial diversification, commercialisation and expansion of resilient green and blue economies, and sustainable utilization of the natural resources. All those areas rely heavily on technological innovation for increased production and productivity within a peaceful society. These interventions require coordination so as to facilitate collaboration at regional, national and continental levels. They also need to be linked with global frameworks to support trade, appropriate policy, legal and regulatory frameworks including financial market stability that is critical in macro- economic stability to buffer a more liberalised economy, intra/extra regional infrastructure connectivity, institutional support mechanism, integrating SMEs into the production and distribution frameworks in the emerging business environment.
Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS):
ECCAS is a regional economic organization consisting of 11 Central African countries. It aims to promote economic cooperation, integration, and development in the region. ECCAS also addresses issues such as peacebuilding, security, and natural resource management.
These are some of the key African regional bodies working to promote cooperation, integration, and development across the continent. Each organization has its own specific objectives, focus areas, and member countries, contributing to regional stability, prosperity, and unity in Africa.