The outbreak of conflicts and unconstitutional transfer of power leading to the disruption of trade flows constitute a crisis and threaten the successful implementation of the African Continental Free-trade Area agreement (AfCFTA) says its secretary-general, Wamkele Mene.
The agreement seeks to turn the continent into the largest regional free-trade area, with most tariffs on goods traded between African countries eventually at zero, complete with a consumer base of 1.3-billion people and an estimated $31.1bn (R565bn) in export potential. It also aims to lift up to 50-million Africans from poverty.
Conflicts such as the recent coup in Niger that caused the closure of the country’s borders, are a reminder of how conflicts can hamper trade as smallholder farmers in the region can no longer access external markets, Mene said.
“The most significant [challenges] that the AfCTA has faced since its establishment ... are the coups d’état that we have seen in Mali, Niger [and] Gabon. These are countries that are important for regional integration ... in East Africa we see that there is a civil conflict in Sudan that is contributing to the lack of integration of Sudan into the rest of the East African economy,” Mene said.
“It [conflict] is a crisis and it is something that is of deep concern and it sets us back as a continent,” Mene said, referring to the coup trend that has swept through West and Central Africa over the past three years.
He said the AU is clear on the rules that apply to an unconstitutional change of government. “These countries must be ... sanctioned until they reintroduce a democracy in their countries, so the impact on trade is significant,” he said.
Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso announced in January that they are leaving the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas), saying the trade bloc had “drifted from the ideals of its founding fathers and the spirit of Pan-Africanism”.
“Ecowas [has some] of the most advanced regional integration models that we have on the continent [with] the free movement of people ... [and] labour, so [conflict is] not good for Ecowas. It’s even worse for those countries because they will not be able to be self-sufficient,” Mene said.
Meanwhile, SA’s first exports under the AfCFTA were shipped to Kenya and Ghana in the past week.
SA is the first among the four Southern African Customs Union (Sacu) countries to launch its preferential trade exports under the AfCFTA’s second Guided Trade Initiative.
“The AfCFTA creates the world’s largest free-trade area by number of countries, and has the potential to bring transformative change and tremendous opportunities to African economies and businesses,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said last week.
“The implementation of the African Continental Free-trade Area will accelerate the development of regional and local value chains, offering investors access to a population of 1.7-billion people with a fast-growing continental GDP,” he said.
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