Pathways to African unification: The four riders of the storm

• Citation: (2022) 28(1) Fundamina 66
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.47348/FUND/v28/i1a2
• Published date: 16 November 2022
• Pages: 66-103
• Author: Kufuor, K.O.
• Date: 16 November 2022

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https://doi.org/10.47348/FUND/v28/i1a2

ARTICLES

PATHWAYS TO AFRICAN

UNIFICATION: THE FOUR RIDERS

OF THE STORM

Ko Oteng Kufuor*

ABSTRACT

Research on African unication has not yet explained the reason

for the belief in the possibility of post-colonial African states swiftly

unifying as a federal or strong, functioning, supranational entity. This

contribution attempts to ll this gap in the literature by exploring the

various paths towards African unication. Some states pressing for

unication misconstrued the history of the successful models that they

insisted Africa could follow. This led to the assumption that a near

frictionless and workable legal edice for African unication could

be easily created. This contribution has a twofold purpose: First, it

draws attention to the importance of the intersection between history

and law in construing and explaining the law as it relates to African

unication. This is an intersection that has largely been ignored by

scholars. Secondly, this contribution adds to the literature that asserts

that African unication enthusiasts should reconsider mimicking other

models in the expectation that this will help propel their goal of a

united Africa. This study examines the routes to African unication,

* BA Hons (University of Science & Technology, Ghana) LLM (London

School of Economics) PhD (Warwick). Professor of Law, University of East

London.

(2022) 28(1) Fundamina 66

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PATHWAYS TO AFRICAN UNIFICATION: THE FOUR RIDERS OF THE STORM

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https://doi.org/10.47348/FUND/v28/i1a2

namely the role of socio-cultural interactions of Africans as propounded

by Edward Blyden; the romantic speedy path as espoused by more

radical forces by which the elite should muster the political will

to bring a united Africa into existence; the role of force in creating

a supranational Africa out of its independent states; and the role of

market integration as an essential ingredient for any deeper and

stronger relations among African states.

Keywords: African unication; Casablanca Group; sovereignty; violence;

markets

1 Introduction

Edward Blyden of Liberia, the father of pan-Africanism, laid the

groundwork for African unication, starting in the nineteenth

century.1 From Blyden’s work has emerged a torrent of writings and

activity towards a united African entity governed by an executive

arm, legislated for by an African parliament, and whose disputes are

resolved by an African apex court.2 African unication is supposed

to be a way forward for the continent to escape from its persistent

underdevelopment.3 The idea of a united Africa intensied in the

1960s as Europe’s possessions in Africa gained independence. The

practical possibility of a single African state drew on the existence

of the United States of America (hereafter “US”) and the now

erstwhile Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (hereafter “USSR”).

If a single African state identical to the US or the USSR was

not possible, an alternative would be an organisation similar to

the European Union (hereafter “EU”) – a supranational body

to which the members surrender a considerable degree of their

sovereignty. The popularity of the EU model in Africa still endures,

notwithstanding the United Kingdom’s recent withdrawal, and the

model is found in the multiple economic integration treaties that

copy the EU treaty system. For example, the Economic Community

of West African States (hereafter “ECOWAS”) recongured its

treaty in 1993 on the EU model, thus marking a shift away from its

comparatively weaker 1975 treaty.4 The Revised ECOWAS Treaty

1 Lynch 1965: 374.

2 Nkrumah 1963: 148.

3 Idem ch 17.

4 Economic Community of West African States, 1993 (Revised Treaty). The

explanation for this is found in the Economic Community of West African

States 1992: 17–19; and in Kufuor 2006.

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KOFI OTENG KUFUOR

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commits its members to a supranational legal order over which

the decisions of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and

Government, the highest decision-making body, shall be binding on

the Member States and institutions.5 Both the ECOWAS Council

of Ministers6 and the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice have

been assigned supranational powers.7 This copying of the EU model

by ECOWAS8 helps explain Africa being dotted with subregional

treaties providing for, inter alia, a single currency, regional courts of

justice and regional parliaments.9 Although, to date, none of these

has had a major impact, the hope persists that Africa will make its

major unication breakthrough.

Scholars, national leaders and pan-Africanist groups have

proposed various paths to the goal of a US/USSR-style federal

system or an EU-style supranational organisation that could evolve

into an African neo-federal body.10 This aim has found its way into

the African Union’s (hereafter “AU”) plan for integration when it

adopted the 2007 Accra Declaration on the Union Government of

Africa.11 In that Declaration, the AU agreed to accelerate Africa’s

economic and political integration with the ultimate goal to create

the United States of Africa.12

This contribution attempts to ll a gap in the literature on

African unication. It seems that, in their envisioned radically

new international law for and organisation of Africa, the eager

5 Article 9(4) of the ECOWAS, 1993 (Revised Treaty) states: “Decisions of

the Authority shall automatically enter into force sixty (60) days after their

publication in the ECOWAS Ofcial Gazette.”

6 Idem art 12(3).

7 Idem art 15(4).

8 The example of the Member States of the European Communities in ceding

part of their national sovereignty to European Community institutions is

itself a strong argument in favour of supranationality as an indispensable

instrument for a successful integration process. If the individual Member States

of the European Communities with virtually self-sustaining economies nd it

necessary and desirable to integrate those economies through supranational

arrangements, then states with fragile and fragmented economies, such as

those of ECOWAS, have even greater cause for adopting similar instruments.

See Economic Community of West African States 1992: 17 para 47.

9 See, in general, Mitamita 2009; Milej 2015; Okom 2016.

10 See, in general, Francis 2006; Ayittey 2010; Gudeta 2018. A neo-federal system

would seem to be one that envisages incremental steps towards federalism.

See Vasallo 2009: 354–355.

11 Accra Declaration on the Union Government of Africa, 2007.

12 Idem art 1.

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