Africa's rise and how it’s Time to Project AU Power!

“The Accidental Ecowas & AU Citizen”:

Africa's rise and how it’s Time to Project AU Power!

By E.K.Bensah Jr

If there were ever a greatest exponent of serendipity, it must have been when I found myself in the home of the African Union in March 2011. Unbeknownst to many, I met my kindred spirit—Mr. Stuart Hastings of towardsunity.org—in person for the first time. I had met him two years earlier online when I was searching through tomes of material on comparative regional integration and trying to find out also whether there were other souls concerned more with the comparative approach on regionalism than simply the single-minded one where, say, the AU, EU or ECOWAS is the main focus.

I would come across Stuart’s site and immediately spark a conversation with him about how the tectonic plates were shifting towards regional unions, and how we both needed to play a part in that change.

His website, then as now, was clear: to travel the world from his home town of Canada and return to produce a book on how far regional unions, such as the EU, MERCOSUR; African Union; and ASEAN can promote promote peace and humanity through democratic dispensations they offer in their institutional structures, and how it was important to re-think some of the current narratives driving hegemons in those respective unions.

So it would be that Stuart and I would meet on 19 March, 2011 at Lime Tree cafe, situated in the rather plush Boston Day Spa on the lush and swanky Bole Road in Addis. I will never forget that day for the people who were there—Stuart Hastings; and a young official of the UN Economic Commission for Africa who might never confess in public he is a Pan-Africanist—and for the fact that after I got back to my hotel, I would catch the news on BBC and Al-Jazeera that a multi-state coalition had began a military intervention in Libya to implement United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973.

I had had a stress-free visit to the AU building days earlier, and so it seemed a bit surreal to see diplomats fluttering in and out after 19 March all over television. It was even harder to believe that the-then almost-completed AU building would play host to an apparent impotence of AU officials and policy-makers it would soon host almost a year later.

It is easy to speculate that it is probably these apparently-impotent AU policy-makers who have just witnessed the inauguration of the new, 28-floor AU building at the just-ended 18^th session of the AU in the Ethiopian capital. After the cacophony over the past few days of this Chinese gift to the Africans and the numerous speculations that have abounded over possible quid-pro-quos that might be associated with this expensive gift, it's time to get serious.

There's no gainsaying that China will expect some favours from Africa for having built this building that supposedly towers over the whole of Addis. To harp on it, in my view, is as relevant as claiming that the Europeans and Western donors who pay some sixty percent of many African countries’ budget would expect these-same countries to be indebted to them. The argument is even a non-starter. What I would hope we would talk about are two major things.

First – how it symbolises a renaissance of South-South cooperation and second, how it is a projection of the increasing power of the African Union.

Symbolism of the AU building

Both experts and amateurs on African integration, and Western journalists alike have been speculating over what China is likely to expect from the building they have donated to the African Union. What, for me, took the biscuit was no less than the venerable BBC World Service’s very respected “News Hour” programme on Sunday 29^th January interviewing the East African correspondent Will Ross, with an angle that was Sino-African centred in a way that suggested that China wants our natural resources, knows Africa is rising and so wants to capitalize on that rise. In my view, this is not analysis; it is common-sense. There really is no such thing as a free lunch. It is just that with the Chinese, they deliver that lunch faster and with few conditions. That may be the beauty of the relationship, and I believe what African integration watchers all over must be doing right now is to use this as an opportunity to explore and enhance the Sino-African relationship.

In 2010, UNCTAD launched the Economic Development in Africa report. Entitled “South-South Cooperation: Africa and the New Forms of Development Partnerships” it examined recent trends in the economic relationships of Africa with other developing countries and the new forms of partnership that are animating those relationships.

The increasing role of large developing countries in global trade, finance, investment and governance, coupled with their rapid economic growth, has stimulated debate on the implications for Africa´s development.

The report urges African nations to intensify efforts at developing better productive capacities to maximize their gains from the emerging partnerships and the gradual global shift of economic power to the East from the West. African countries, the report states “have to produce goods with high income elasticities of demand and that present greater opportunities for export market expansion”.

The report comprises five chapters dealing with the challenges and opportunities in South-South cooperation, Africa’s trade with developing countries, southern official flows to Africa, southern Foreign Direct Investment to Africa and making South-South Cooperation work for Africa.

The report concludes that Africa-South Cooperation—whether it is Sino— or Indio—not only has the potential to enhance Africa´s capacity to address its development challenges but the full realization of the benefits requires gearing cooperation towards the development of productive capacities across the region.

Bottom line is that Africa as a continent does not yet have a unified strategy relating to Africa-South cooperation and this is evidenced in part, for example, by the way in which the 2010 report was produced by UNCTAD, and not the African Union. Going forward, the AU can use the donation of the building to consolidate the Sino-African relationship—perhaps around infrastructure? — and create an effective strategy round it in a way that will slowly and surely put paid to the West’s.

Projection of power in the AU’s 10^th anniversary year!

Who has not seen pictures of the Brussels-based European Commission on TV and thought “wow, that’s a huge building!” And for those who have seen it in person, there’s no gainsaying it’s a rather imposing building. This contrasts sharply with what Stuart Hasting related to in one of our numerous discussions of his globe-trotting in Asia to see the secretariat of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) in Nepal.

First and most importantly, after having been established in 1985, one would have thought that they might have upgraded their building a little. Pictures online of the Secretariat are consistent with the descriptions associated with Hasting’s sojourn anecdotes. This has prompted much speculation among those of us committed to propagating the development of regional unions and groupings – especially in the developing world— as good – and the greatest exemplification of the very-necessary projection of power the AU so needs to do. Given that this is coming in the tenth anniversary of the African Union, this could not but be a better and fitting presage of Africa’s putative rise!

In 2009, in his capacity as a “Do More Talk Less Ambassador” of the 42^nd Generation—an NGO that promotes and discusses Pan-Africanism--Emmanuel gave a series of lectures on the role of ECOWAS and the AU in facilitating a Pan-African identity. Emmanuel owns "Critiquing Regionalism" (http://critiquing-regionalism.org). Established in 2004 as an initiative to respond to the dearth of knowledge on global regional integration initiatives worldwide, this non-profit blog features regional integration initiatives on MERCOSUR/EU/Africa/Asia and many others. You can reach him on ekbensah@ekbensah.net / Mobile: +233-268.687.653.

Will the African Integration Revolution be Televised? (3)...especially when Africa is rising?

“The Accidental Ecowas & AU Citizen”:

Will the African Integration Revolution be Televised? (3)...especially when Africa is rising?

By E.K.Bensah Jr

Even if the cover story of the latest Economist is somewhat of a redemption of Africa's “loneliness” on the global stage, truth is Africa did not need that kind of endorsement before realising it is going places. Admittedly, the apology-of-sorts by the magazine for calling Africa “a hopeless continent” back in 2001 can only serve to vindicate the efforts made by the eight AU-recognised regional economic communities populating the continent.

Truth be told, it is almost hard to believe that it was only two weeks ago that the African Union rejected the Economic Partnership Agreements, telling the EU that their priority is regional integration. It is also hard to believe that it is only four years ago that the so-called Grand Debate on Union Government took place in Accra when Ghana played host to the AU Assembly of Heads of State. I mention this only to remind us that when we couple that July 2007 meeting with the ECOWAS Ministerial Monitoring Committee meeting and 7th Session of the Conference of African Trade Ministers in early December, it is easy for us to speculate that by some twist of fate, Ghana continues to play host to tectonic changes on the African integration landscape.

Elsewhere, this would have created the imperative among the populace to be better-sensitized to the developments in the African Union and regional economic communities. Seeing as we depend a lot on hope in this country, it seems we can only hope that more of the Ghanaian media looks beyond reporting on politics excessively.

As I write this, the UN Economic Commission for Africa(UNECA) is hosting a meeting in the home of the AU for the 2nd African Union Conference of Ministers Responsible for Mineral Resources Development.

According to a press release from the UNECA, “a key premise of the AMV is that mining should become a catalyst for broad-based sustainable development. The Mining Vision argues that until now mining has been run as an enclave activity, meaning that the economic and social linkages within Africa itself have not been as strong as they should be.”

Secondly, according to the AMV, African governments have “focused too much on getting revenue from mining and not enough on using the industry as a catalyst for development.” Going forward, the industry has to do much more to encourage enterprises “develop around mining centres.”

In fact, one of the major outcomes of the Conference is to launch a new major report, “Minerals and Africa’s Development” that was drafted by an expert technical task force – the International Study Group, which includes the Accra-based Third World Network-Africa – established under the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).

The UNECA release states that “the Report reviews current mineral regimes across Africa and against this background sets out the policy implications for implementing the Africa Mining Vision. The main recommendations of the report, and the Vision itself, have formed the basis for an action plan which will be agreed at the Conference. The plan is expected to form the basis for implementing the vision.”

This significant development is consistent with the “Productive Capacity Cluster” of the “Action Plan for boosting intra-African trade” I touched on in the first part of this three-parter.

Simply put, the action plan pointed the finger of blame for Africa's woeful productive capacity on the low level of intra-African trade. The imperative, therefore, is to effectively implement initiatives like the African Mining Vision, which are considered essential for the enhancement of the productive capacities of African countries and for the boosting of intra-African trade. Regrettably, much of this momentous development seems to be taking place on the blind side of most of the African media!

When Africa rises, it's thanks to the people

As you may well know, all is not entirely lost—as exemplified by the relative success of two weeks ago when Ghana’s Minister of Trade and Industry had to, in effect, capitulate to her hostile intentions of forcing Ghana to sign an interim Economic Partnership Agreement with the EU. This might not have happened without a people-centred intervention, including a major statement launched by West African civil society, including the Accra-based Economic Justice Network.

In the “Joint Statement  by the West African Civil Society Platform on the Cotonou Agreement(POSCAO), Economic Justice Network of Ghana and the Secretariat of the Africa Trade Network…”, the statement included sections on “Unity for Development not EU Deadlines”; “Current contentious issues in the EPA Negotiations”; “ECOWAS CET”; “EPA Development Programme (PAPED)”; “ECOWAS Solidarity Fund”; “Programming Alternatives to the EPA”; and “West Africa, the EU and current development in the World Economy.”

Some of the demands include welcoming the initiative of Nigeria on the ECOWAS Common External Tariff rate to raise it from 35 to 50 percent, “collectively tak[ing] this as a point of departure for finalizing [West Africa’s] CET”; supporting the statement made by the ECOWAS’s Director of Trade “that a proper and binding PAPED” is a “precondition for an ECOWAS EPA and hold West African officials to this commitment.”. In addition, there is the call by West African civil society to “immediately establish its own Solidarity Fund to enable members absorb associated [costs] with the EPA in the short-term.”

Now while the EPAs are not common currency in the discourse of Ghana’s national development, it is conceivable that the statement offered a degree of policy space even for West African diplomats to use the sliver of opportunity to engage civil society in a way that might not have been possible a decade ago when civil society agitations were in their infancy.

In conclusion, we can draw our own conclusions as to whether Africa is on the cusp of significant and palpable change. I will not lie to you and pretend I feel it isn’t. There is enough happening around the African Union—from its celebration of its tenth year in September 2012; and its AU summit in January on boosting intra-African trade—for one to be conceivably excited over prospects for growth and economic emancipation. Africa has been rising a long time – just that it was not being articulated as strongly as now. In between the trough and crests of structural adjustment and Breton Woods prescriptions lay buried an African Integration narrative that is now asserting itself. Africa, arise!

In 2009, in his capacity as a “Do More Talk Less Ambassador” of the 42^nd Generation—an NGO that promotes and discusses Pan-Africanism--Emmanuel gave a series of lectures on the role of ECOWAS and the AU in facilitating a Pan-African identity. Emmanuel owns "Critiquing Regionalism" (http://www.critiquing-regionalism.org). Established in 2004 as an initiative to respond to the dearth of knowledge on global regional integration initiatives worldwide, this non-profit blog features regional integration initiatives on MERCOSUR/EU/Africa/Asia and many others. You can reach him on ekbensah@ekbensah.net / Mobile: +233-268.687.653.

Here are 7 Ways the African Union can Move Away from its Egregious External Strategy

Here are 7 Ways the African Union can Move 

Away from its Egregious External Strategy

By E.K.Bensah Jr

Back in March, I had the priviledge of visiting the African Union, while in Addis for some capacity-building on peace and security of the AU, and I was pretty impressed with the tall building the Chinese are building for the organisation.

Germany's GIZ is also building the AU's Peace and Security Department, and will be completed by 2012. It ought to remind the world, then, that the AU has "arrived" in grand style on managing peace and security.

What irked me, though, were my impressions when I landed in Addis eight days earlier. Given that I want this to be a positive thing, let me offer solutions for the way forward:

First, the AU should have some Memorandum of Understanding between itself and Ethiopian Airlines that would enable it showcase the AU to regular and first-time visitors in the plane. Alright, show your movies, but have a twenty-minute video of what the AU is, what it does and where it will be in the future! Instead, what you have is a fairly modern airport that does not give any impression that it is the capital of African diplomacy.

Secondly, the AU should arrange for every blessed hotel in Addis to host an AU flag. A quick drive through Addis and you will be surprised at the city’s inability to convey that “Africanness” you feel when you arrive in Brussels. From Zaventem airport to the heart of Brussels, where the institutions are, you are likely to see more than hundred symbols depicting that Brussels is the diplomatic capital of Europe! While flags are not the end-all and be-all, they are certainly a step in reminding all and sundry that the AU lives there!

Third, the AU should have information bureaus in every AU country. Failing that, it should have diplomatic missions in “strategic” countries, such as Algeria; Nigeria; Ghana; Senegal. It would admittedly be expensive to have an information bureau or mission in every country, so being selective about the countries where they should be hosted would make sense. In Ghana, only the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has information about the AU, and if you can hold your head in disbelief for a second, it is nothing more than a “desk”. Simply put, they are telling the world that ECOWAS and AU might be important, but they are unwilling to spend resources to project the growing power of the AU. If we can accept that the Cantonments-based “The Round House” is home to the EU in Ghana, why can we not have a comparative mission in the AU in every AU member state? Does the AU not think this to be important enough?

Fourth, the AU is on New Media; it can be found on https://www.facebook.com/pages/African-Union/454340075407 . Truth be told, the AU is now a bit more proactive on Facebook, but could still do better. Despite the fact that it has some 2457 “likes”, it seems to have been overwhelmed by the enormity of the “likes” to the extent that it has not yet managed to respond to one single criticism or query on its apparent ineffectiveness. That said, I must give the AU benefit of the doubt when on 21 September last year, they run a campaign months earlier on http://www.makepeacehappen.net to raise awareness of 21 September as AU and UN Peace Day, and to celebrate the launch of the AU’s Year of Peace and Security. They have regrettably lost the momentum on that, and let the site atrophy without regular updates. 

Fifth, while it is not solely the work of the AU, it should be the frontline actor pushing to ensure that citizens of AU member states travel to the home of the African Union visa-free! In Ghana, cost of a visa is certainly not as prohibitive as that of an EU member state, but it is one cost too many. If we are to accelerate continental unity – whether through the regional economic communities or otherwise – free movement must be an imperative of the solution. If Europeans can travel freely to Brussels, why must Africans have such difficulty traveling throughout the continent?

Which leads me to the sixth point: cost of airline tickets. The AU is a member of the Association of African Airlines(AFRAA), which has for many years been campaigning for airline fuel costs to come down. As recently as July this year, AFRAA initiated measures to tackle the high cost of Aviation Fuel(Jet A1),which is a major operational cost item in the industry.
 

The AFRAA secretariat has resolved to assist airlines meet with fuel marketers to reduce fuel costs in conformity with stipulations in the AFRAA 2011  – 2013 Business Plan. The irony of it all is that the Ethiopian Airlines I have mentioned above is one of those airlines, alongside Kenya Airways, that do not want to be members of AFRAA.

Finally, the AU must get serious on re-vamping the websites of all its institutions, including those of any AU delegations around the world. These should all be found on the main AU site. Up-and-coming institutions like the African Monetary Fund; African Central Bank; and African Investment Bank ought by now to have had websites—at least in beta form—to showcase their history and where they are going. Without these, how are African citizens ever going to know about what the AU does, and how people can help achieve their vision?

from: http://www.thebftonline.com/bft_subcat_linkdetails.cfm?prodcatID=6&tblNewsCatID=63&tblNewsID=9398

In 2009, in his capacity as a “Do More Talk Less Ambassador” of the 42^nd Generation—an NGO that promotes and discusses Pan-Africanism--Emmanuel gave a series of lectures on the role of ECOWAS and the AU in facilitating a Pan-African identity. Emmanuel owns "Critiquing Regionalism" (http://www.critiquing-regionalism.org). Established in 2004 as an initiative to respond to the dearth of knowledge on global regional integration initiatives worldwide, this non-profit blog features regional integration initiatives on MERCOSUR/EU/Africa/Asia and many others. You can reach him on ekbensah@ekbensah.net / Mobile: 0268.687.653.

The AU has a New Website, Albeit in Beta

Belated Happy AU Day! Though it has been a while since I wrote in here, I have been powerfully scanning the horizon on issues of African unity.

I am glad to read on the AU website that the AU is well and truly pursuing the issue of the AU Commission being transformed into an African Union Authority(AUA). The documents in question can be found here: http://www.africa-union.org/root/ua/Actualites/2010/mai/legal%20Counsel%20meeting.doc and http://www.africa-union.org/root/ua/Conferences/2010/mai/OLC/17-21mai/NV%20Legal%20Experts%20Meeting%2017-21%20May%202010%20Eng0001.pdf.

Interestingly, too, the AU, to celebrate AU Day in its 47th year, has come out with a new website, which can be visited here: http://www.au.int/?q=home.

Africa should do well to remember that UNITY is the only option. This is not inconsistent with the pursuit of programmes that facilitate regional economic integration--as exemplified by the UNECA-mandated eight regional groupings

Africa CAN--MUST--Unite!

Facebook Friday:What's Cooking in the "Statusophere" on AU?

It's been a while since I asked a question that generated as much discussion as this one this pastt week. My questions was:

The EU tells us that with the Lisbon strategy, they will become a competitive economy by 2020. The African Union*AU* tells us that they will be united by...2034!! 14 years too late my brothers! Wake up and smell the burning gold and cocoa that is being shipped out. Africa MUST--Can-- Unite! Now. Be the change you want to see!

Kindly find below a screen capture of the responses to the question:









Best of the weekend!