African leaders meet on Saturday and Sunday for the annual African Union (AU) summit with the aim of accelerating the establishment of the free trade area, in a context marked by the repercussions of the war in Ukraine and the persistence of armed insurgencies.
For many years, the continent’s leaders have been discussing the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (Zlec), which should bring together 1.3 billion people and thus become the largest market in the world with a combined GDP of 3.4 trillion dollars, according to the UN.
This 36th AU summit, which will be held at the headquarters of the continental organization in Addis Ababa, will focus on “accelerating” the Zlec.
Initially, the market was to be effective from July 1, 2020. But the closure of most borders due to the coronavirus pandemic has pushed back the schedule.
Divergences
For now, intra-African trade represents only 15% of the continent’s total trade.
“There is a displayed and affirmed political will (concerning the free trade zone) but it will take a long time to put in place,” Paul-Simon Handy, director of the office of the Institute for Security Studies, told AFP. in Addis Ababa.
Zlec must, according to its promoters, promote trade within the continent and attract investors. According to the World Bank, by 2035, the agreement would create 18 million additional jobs and “might help lift up to 50 million people out of extreme poverty”.
But differences remain on the continent.
“There are countries that are a little hesitant on certain points, particularly on the protocol for the free movement of people and goods. Some African countries fear that the opening of borders will lead to an influx of people that they cannot not control”, underlines Dorine Nininahazwe, director of the NGO ONE for East Africa, also mentioning questions of protectionism.
All the AU countries, with the exception of Eritrea, have signed up to it, but the discussions are stumbling over the timetable for reductions in customs duties, particularly for the least developed countries.
Struggling economies
This summit “will be held at a particularly delicate time for the continent”, also underlines the International Crisis Group organization.
“The invasion of Ukraine and the international sanctions have shaken African economies and thrown many of them into serious difficulties,” continues the ICG.
If the continent is still the scene of armed clashes, particularly in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) or in the Lake Chad basin, one of the deadliest conflicts in the world, the war in Tigray ( northern Ethiopia) – which caused several hundred thousand deaths according to the AU – ended last November, with the signing of a peace agreement under the aegis of the African Union.
Azali Assoumani, president of the Comoros, a small archipelago in the Indian Ocean of regarding 850,000 inhabitants, is to take over the rotating presidency of the AU, following Macky Sall, the Senegalese head of state.
The Comorian president “will need the support of other African leaders to assume his mandate, given the country’s limited diplomatic weight”, notes the ICG while Paul-Simon Handy underlines that the choice was made in November, ” leaving him little time to prepare”.
Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea, three countries ruled by soldiers emerging from coups d’etat, on February 10 requested the lifting of their suspension from the AU. But “the reintegration of these juntas into the AU would be a total renunciation”, according to Mr. Handy.
At least 35 presidents and four prime ministers will attend the summit, according to the Ethiopian government.
