Enter the Chad Dragon in the ECOWAS-CENSAD region!

Back in October 2011, my piece “Hot Issues on the AU needing popular advocacy (I) – or Travelling Cheaply in Africa, & Southern Sudan” touched briefly on CENSAD. I started off with a history of CENSAD, going on to ask the way forward.

The Community of Sahel-Saharan States was established in 1998 by the late Colonel Qaddafi. After the rationalization of the regional economic communities in 2006, it became an AU-REC – that is one of the eight RECs mandated and recognized by the African Union. It has twenty-eight members, and Ghana is a member.

Despite many meetings that had taken place and a then-fully-functioning website on http://www.censad.org, the uprising that started in Libya in March threw a huge spanner in the works of the organisation, effectively throwing the regional grouping out of sync with the other RECs at its base in Tripoli. Regrettably, the conspicuous absence of the African Union itself on the future of CENSAD has not helped dispel the notion that the AU is nothing more than a “toothless” bulldog.

The passing of Qaddafi, I intoned, has effectively taken the wind out of the sails of CENSAD, probably throwing all the good work – including the Great Green Wall being built along the sub-region to protect the region from climate change; as well as the establishment of a free-trade area of ECOWAS-UEMOA-CENSAD/ECOWAS-CENSAD/ECCAS along the likes of the SADC-COMESA-EAC tripartite free trade area, which was mooted in 2008.

Going forward, I would expect to see the AU taking serious the need to engage the National Transitional Council in Libya on their commitments to the African Union. This would include discussions on Libya and where it stands on the establishment of the AU-mandated and Tripoli-hosted African Investment Bank, as well as the state of play of CEN-SAD, and how it can be factored into discussions of Africa’s ongoing discussions over Africa’s integration.

In January 2013, an organisation by the name of Centre 4S, which is based in Morocco, and which researches defence and security in the Sahelo-Saharian band /strip; armed violence and terrorism, among other subjects, released a paper in French entitled “Revitaliser le CENSAD”, or reinvigorating CENSAD.

The main idea of the paper is to look at the critical role CENSAD can play in the Sahel; ways in which cooperation and synergy can be created around the zone, and ways in which there can be strengthened cross-border cooperation.

Truth be told, the uniqueness of CENSAD is in its ability to merge ECOWAS; Arab Maghreb Union and ECCASS countries together. The article maintains that the contribution that CENSAD offers its member states ought to be re-examined. Furthermore, the crisis in Mali has set an important precedent for the member states to really get serious on what can be done to use the body as a tool for securing the region politically and diplomatically.

The paper states that “CENSAD should present itself as an institutional and diplomatic framework, of unity and action, capable of formulating a pertinent response, inclusive and varied, to current security challenges.” Even more important for a reinvigorated and re-launched CENSAD should be the aspiration to complement ECOWAS and the Arab Maghreb Union, especially as they are two RECs most-familiar with the security deficits of the Sahel region. These efforts will “equally allow for a better coherence and coordination of different initiatives on the Sahel”, such as Algeria’s Joint Military Command with Mali; Niger; and Mauritania.

Chad rising, Chad in ECOWAS?

Chad is a Central African country and a member of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS). Some wonder why it should not also become a member of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) According to one Elvis Kodjo, writing in fratmat.info, 'although the idea has not been officially announced, the spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Moussa Mahamat Dago indicated on 19 January 2012 in Abidjan during a celebration of Chad's 50th anniversary that the issue was currently being considered.”

The idea for joining rests with the fact that Chad has emerged from several decades of unrest, and understands “more than any other African country that “African integration is necessary for its development”.

The fact is that since the start of oil production in 2005, “Chad has become the ninth largest African oil producer and has improved its network of roads, which has expanded from 200 to more than 3 000 km. Plans for a new, ultramodern airport are underway, and a railroad linking the country to Cameroon will soon be constructed”. Kodjo maintains that “while being a veritable construction site, Chad also has forty million hectors of arable land”.

In order to encourage the effective use of this land, the Ministry Of Foreign Affairs spokesman Mahamat has said that the country “has equipped itself with a particularly attractive investment code” and is looking to secure the best opportunities for itself by diversifying its economic partners in both Central and West Africa.

In March 2011, Chad was, in fact, granted observer status of ECOWAS and my monitoring of Chad's wooing suggests that Chadian President Idris Deby is still keen on sweet-talking Jonathon—in his capacity as leader of the regional hegemon, Nigeria—to accept Chad as a full member of ECOWAS. In April 2012, I was quick to speculate that it is unlikely to happen soon, given the instability in the Sahel region and the headaches of Mali and Guinea-Bissau. All that can be said for now is for observers to keep a keen eye on Chad making “incursions” into ECOWAS sooner than later.

Then Mali happens. And suddenly, we are confronted with a Chad that is offering support to the Africa-led support mission in Mali (AFISMA) to the tune of around 3000 troops, which is around a third of what all ECOWAS troops have offered.

One of the reasons why Chad is an important country to look out for is for what happened on Saturday 16 February when Chad’s president Idris Deby hosted some eleven leaders of the CENSAD regional economic community that was established in 1998. The capital N’djamena played host to what should have been 20 members of the populous grouping. Even if a little over a third of the Heads of State showed up, it was encouraging to see that the 17 other member states dispatched representatives. Furthermore, it has shown that the raison d’être for the establishment of the grouping might still be relevant.

Some of the major outcomes include a revision of the Charter, to reflect the fact that the organisation is interested in two major things: peace and security; and sustainable development. Two permanent organs will be established to this end, and Egypt is likely to host the peace and security organ.

As this is a developing story, with much of the material in French, watch this space over the next couple of weeks when the implications of a rising Chad will begin to unfold. For what it is worth, CENSAD’s next meeting will be in Morocco, which is itself making overtures to re-join the African Union.

In April 2012, I wrote of how there is talk of an ECCAS-ECOWAS-CENSAD free trade area along the likes of the Tripartite FTA (T-FTA) of SADC-COMESA-EAC that was mooted in 2008. With Central Africa only last week meeting and seeking concretely to rationalise its programmes for ECCAS and CEMAC to harmonise and merge, it is really exciting times for African integration!

ENDs

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.

Hot Issues on the AU needing popular advocacy (I) – or Travelling Cheaply in Africa, & Southern Sudan

“The Accidental Ecowas & AU Citizen”:

Hot Issues on the AU needing popular advocacy (I) – or Travelling Cheaply in Africa, & Southern Sudan

By E.K.Bensah Jr

Given the untimely passing of Qaddafi, it is all-too predictable to write more column inches about the man and his works for Africa. Suffice-to-say if Africa had a more vivacious media than we like to think we have, then media practitioners should have been making more noise about the manner in which his body was dragged through the streets of Sirte, and how the distribution of footage of his bloodied body worldwide shattered to smithereens any sense of decency the media is supposed to have – anywhere.

That notwithstanding, today I want to focus on equally-important issues that have lost their way off the radar of mainstream news.

Travelling cheaper in Africa?

For the longest time, travelling throughout Africa has been a hellish affair, what with never-falling cost of air tickets and entry of new airlines. Take the case of travelling throughout the sub-region, where the average cost of a ticket is around 500USD. This absolutely-unacceptable situation is made all the more painful by the fact that despite the increasing assertiveness of the eight-AU-recognised regional economic communities (ECOWAS; CENSAD; Arab Magreb Union; SADC; COMESA; ECCAS; East African Community; and IGAD), there are virtually no “regional carriers” that represent the “power” of  the RECs.

It seems forever that ECOWAS has been talking about “ECOAIR”, which would be the carrier for the ECOWAS sub-region. We all know that it has not happened. There is a glimmer of hope that ECOWAS will make some headway on the viability of air transport—as per the meeting it is holding as I write this—but results are likely to be very slow in coming. 

The meeting in question is attended by air transport experts and Chief Executive Officers of airlines from all the 15 ECOWAS Member States, with the objective of discussing “measures of creating an enabling environment conducive for viable, efficient, affordable and sustainable air transport industry in the West Africa sub region.” While this is encouraging, it looks like the real nettlesome challenge about travelling cheaply in West Africa has everything to do with air fuel costs.

To this end, in August, the 33-member Association of African Airlines (AFRAA) resolved to work on the project whose aim is to lower fuel costs for Africa, by jointly purchasing fuel. With only 33 members of the association,however, I wonder whether it is not high-time the AU is lobbied to join and help subsidise and operationalise this project?

Whither the future of CEN-SAD?

The Community of Sahel-Saharan States was established in 1998 by the late Colonel Qaddafi. After the rationalization of the regional economic communities in 2006, it became an AU-REC – that is one of the eight RECs mandated and recognized by the African Union. It has twenty-eight members, and Ghana is a member. 

Despite many meetings that had taken place and a fully-functioning website on http://www.censad.org, the uprising that started in Libya in March threw a huge spanner in the works of the organisation, effectively throwing the regional grouping out of sync with the other RECs at its base in Tripoli. Regrettably, the conspicuous absence of the African Union itself on the future of CENSAD has not helped dispel the notion that the AU is nothing more than a “toothless” bulldog. 

The passing of Qaddafi will effectively take the wind out of the sails of CENSAD, probably throwing all the good work – including the Great Green Wall being built along the sub-region to protect the region from climate change; as well as the establishment of a free-trade area of ECOWAS-UEMOA-CENSAD/ECOWAS-CENSAD/ECCAS along the likes of the SADC-COMESA-EAC tripartite free trade area, which was mooted in 2008.

Going forward, I would expect to see the AU taking serious the need to engage the National Transitional Council in Libya on their commitments to the African Union. This would include discussions on Libya and where it stands on the establishment of the AU-mandated and Tripoli-hosted African Investment Bank, as well as the state of play of CEN-SAD, and how it can be factored into discussions of Africa’s ongoing discussions over Africa’s integration.

South Sudan – which REC to belong to?

South Sudan might have slipped off the radar of news—not because it is not important, but other hot issues might naturally have tipped it off. Still, what has not been making the rounds too much has been the regional economic community to which South Sudan should belong. Given the location of that country, one cannot take it for granted that they would necessarily want to go with their Northern counterpart—and to the RECs is no exception.

There is no mechanism that can predict that South Sudan will want to become member of the East Africa Community or the IGAD. And what of COMESA? This is an important debate that African media practitioners – aware of the utility and increasing assertiveness of the RECs – might be ruminating over on the continent.

Although there have been major developments around South Sudan and its membership of some of these RECs, the point I am making here is about the absence of a debate in much of the African media. Going forward, African media practitioners, including here in Ghana, should move beyond the stage of talking about other AU member states only when they’re, at best, embroiled in conflict and/or at worst, are headline news over at the BBC!

You might be happy to know that South Sudan was made a member of COMESA at the 15th Comesa Heads of State and Government summit on 14^th October in Malawi. Furthermore, on 17 October, South Sudan President General Salva Kiir confirmed that his country has started on the application process to become a member of the East African Community (EAC).

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.

Of 9th, 11th, and 21st September, or Unleashing the AUfrican Lion to the World

“The Accidental Ecowas & AU Citizen”:

Of 9^th, 11^th, and 21^st September, or Unleashing the AU-frican Lion to the World

By E.K.Bensah Jr

I am not surprised much of the Ghanaian media missed it; I could not have expected anything less. It was always going to be obvious that they would remember the much-publicised 10^th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the US and be totally oblivious to developments on the continent. If we had a media more sensitized to what was going on in Africa and its regional economic communities, we might have had more column inches on one major anniversary and a conference that ended on that all-important anniversary.

9^th September is “Sirte Declaration Day”…

The all-important anniversary is that of 9^th September. This day is ineluctably etched in African integration history as a day when the Sirte Declaration was mooted in Libya. The significance of this declaration has to do with the fact that it is the resolution adopted by the-then Organisation of African Unity on 9 September 1999, at the fourth Extraordinary Session of the OAU Assembly of African Heads of State and Government held at Sirte, Libya. Policy-makers and aficionados of African unity remember Sirte to be blazing the trail on where Africa needs to go. If we can remember the importance of the Abuja Treaty of 1991 setting the blueprint for continental integration, then we can accept Sirte to be the engine for that integration. With it, three major things happened.

First, it set the tone for the establishment of the African Union as we know it today; second,  it speeded up the implementation of the provisions of the Abuja Treaty, to create an African Economic Community, and its attendant Pan-African institutions of the Nigeria-based African Central Bank; Cameroon-based African Monetary Fund; the African Court of Justice; ( Libya-based African Investment Bank ) and Pan-African Parliament, with the Parliament to be established by 2000. Third, it prepared a Constitutive Act of the African Union that would be ratified by 31 December 2000 and become effective the following year in 2001. 

…and the “real” African Union day

Also unbeknownst to the Ghanaian media was the highly-important fifth edition of the Conference of African Ministers of Integration (COMAI V). Held in Kenya from 5-9 September, the objective of the meeting was three-fold: to consider the report of the “Status of Integration in Africa 2011”; and a report on the “implementation of Recommendations from COMAI IV”; and review a study on “the quantification of scenarios of rationalization of RECs”. 

Simply put, the rationalization of RECs refers to AU member states deciding to stick to one regional economic community – instead of the two or three some of them belong to. Policy-makers at the UNECA and AU Commission see this as pivotal to achieving the African Economic Community by 2034. Of equal importance, also, is the Continental Integration Fund for supporting the UNECA-sponsored “Minimum Integration Programme” that will help RECs deliver on harmonization of programmes consistent with the Abuja Treaty. On that, the African Development Bank is ready to support ways of resourcing this facility that will complement existing alternative financing mechanisms identified by the AU for unity.

Truth be told, if there is anything we can say about 9 September, it is that it is the veritable “African union” day. That the unfortunate events of  9/11 took place two days after one of the most important and significant events of African integration is perhaps a harbinger/metaphor of how African integration was doomed to run on the back of the so-called War on Terror.

Terrorism, 9/11, and 21 September

Not that this does not matter, but in Africa, the almost over-kill of September 11 is only as poignant as African countries choose to make it. Few can forget that East Africa experienced a spate of terrorist attacks during the “War on Terror” decade. It is also regrettable that the decade would “close” with attacks in West Africa with the bombing of the UN building in Abuja allegedly by Boko Haram. But can we honestly say that a 30-member “Global Counterterrorism Forum”—comprising the AU member countries of Nigeria; South Africa; Egypt; Algeria; and Mauritania – would be the solution to countering violent extremism in the problem of the Sahel; Horn of Africa; and South East Asia. To have Algeria in that group is encouraging as that country has given vent to what observers of the AU in some quarters call the “maghrebization of peace and security” of the AU. 

I take issue not so much with the fact that this is an initiative of the Obama administration, but that the UN, regional and sub-regional bodies “would be invited to participate in the appropriate working group and their activities”. As to why they are not a permanent feature remains unclear. In the long run, this forum will be inaugurated on 21 September on the sidelines of the UN general assembly in New York.

Conclusion

I have no illusions that most of what I write here will be read by a minority of Ghanaians at best, minority of Africans at worst, and inculcated in a way that will help them make viscerally-life-changing decisions about what they can do to help the AU and ECOWAS deliver for citizens. 

What I do know is that someone somewhere will take note and seek to educate themselves about the AU and ECOWAS –despite the absolutely egregious manner in which these two organizations project themselves to African citizens. 

What I also know is that until Ghanaians begin to lose themselves to the rhythm of the African integration march, they will consign their progeny to an inexcusable fate they could have avoided. African integration will not work without a concerted effort by all—citizens and especially media alike—holding the policy-makers of these groupings accountable. 

Much of the time, citizens are keen to work for them because of the good money that is offered, forgetting that the benefits and good salary are the bonus of hard work in helping make a contribution towards the betterment of generations unborn. 

As I write this in the aftermath of another successful GJA Media Awards, I cannot help but also bow my head down in shame on how despite the centrality of Ghana in African integration—thanks to Dr. Kwame Nkrumah—Ghanaian media practitioners seem to be waiting for some external actor to sponsor an AU reporting award before they start writing about the AU or ECOWAS! Where is civil society on this issue? Where, indeed, are the media practitioners who need to be asking why such an award is not part of the categories? 

Ghana is much more than the politicking of the NPP and NDC, and I daresay we do not have to wait for the CPP to emerge as a fully-fledged third force before we start talking, and taking seriously what the AU and ECOWAS do. The triple responsibility that Ghanaians bear of being citizens of Ghana, ECOWAS community citizens and AUfrican citizens ought to awaken them to the imperative and necessity of capitalizing on both the months of May and September to give vent to the AUfrican personality the continent so desperately needs.

 ekbensah AT critiquing-regionalism.org

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.