The African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement: Aiding Intra-African trade towards deeper continental integration

• Author: Zaire, D.
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.47348/JCCL/V7/i2a2
• Published date: 09 November 2022
• Date: 09 November 2022
• Citation: (2021) 7(2) JCCL&P 16
• Pages: 16-44

https://doi.org/10.47348/JCCL/V7/i2a2

16

THE AFRICAN CONTINENTAL

FREE TRADE AREA AGREEMENT:

AIDING INTRA-AFRICAN TRADE

TOWARDS DEEPER CONTINENTAL

INTEGRATION

DENNIS ZAIRE*

Senior Programme Manager, Konrad Adenauer, Namibia – PhD

Candidate, School of Law, University of Namibia

TAPIWA VICTOR WARIKANDWA†

Senior Lecturer, School of Law, University of Namibia

Abstract

The signing of the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement

(AfCFTA) reflected many years of hard work by the continent’s

forefathers who include Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Julius Nyerere

of Tanzania, Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya, Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia,

Patrice Lumumba of Congo, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Frantz

Fanon of Algeria, but to mention a few. The AfCFTA also depicts the

novel work of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), and later

the African Union (AU), towards shaping a vision of continental

integration, embedded in the vision of the African Economic

Community (AEC), a by-product of the Abuja Treaty. Vision 2030

and the long-term continental vision of Agenda 2063: ‘The Africa We

Want’ are also designed to contribute towards deeper and successful

continental integration. However, by now the excitement over the

AfCFTA signing has subsided. For each member state, the reality of

being an AfCFTA party has started to sink in. Some member states

have expressed concern and fear over problems such as opening

their markets and accepting continental competition, allowing

free movement of persons and trade across borders. Others find it

too expensive to deal with the internal political fallout from their

populace’s scepticism regarding the agreement’s effects on jobs (due

to increased competition) and livelihoods. This article examines the

* LLB, LLM (University of Hull), LLM (Nottingham Trent University).

† LLB, LLM, LLD (UFH).

(2021) 7(2) JCCL&P 16

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AFCFTA: AIDING INTRA-AFRICA TRADE TOWARDS DEEPER CONTINENTAL

INTEGRATION

https://doi.org/10.47348/JCCL/V7/i2a2

AfCFTA to determine its impact and related advantages in respect of

continental trade policies. It discusses the advantages of the AfCFTA

and its potential challenges.

Keywords: African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement, Organisation

of African Unity, intra-African trade, continental integration

I INTRODUCTION

For decades, Africa was a playground for European and Western

colonialism and exploitation. In the process, African states had their

economic and political sovereignty taken away.1 As a consequence,

the continent is under-developed and remains a marginal player in

world trade.2 In addition, African countries trade less with each other

partly due to structural problems inherited from the colonial era that

include artificial colonial borders that have been a source of endless

conflicts and wars for decades. Inspired by this experience, Africa’s

founding fathers crafted and shaped a new path of political and

economic independence for the continent. In search of political and

economic independence and identity, the Organisation of African

Unity (OAU) was created. It served as a platform for intellectual

discussions, a framework from which to lobby, and a fire around

which African countries could gather to talk and engage each other,

strategise, unite the people and execute plans to free the continent

from the yoke of colonialism and economic exploitation. It also served

as a unifying instrument between the two ideological formations, the

Casablanca Group and the Monrovia Group.3

1 T V Warikandwa, A Nhemachema, N Mpofu & H Chitimira Grid-locked African

Economic Sovereignty, Decolonizing the Neo-Imperial Socio-Economic and Legal Force

Fields in the 21st Century (foreword) (2019).

2 For example, total trade from Africa to the rest of the world averaged US$760

463 million in the period 2015 – 2017, compared with US$ 481 081 million

from Oceania, US$4 109 131 million from Europe, US$5 139 649 million from

America and US$6 801 474 million from Asia. United Nations Conference on

Trade and Development, ‘UNTAD – Economic Development in Africa Report’

(2019) 18, available at https://unctad.org/webflyer/economic-development-

africa-report-2019, accessed on 23 April 2022.

3 In October 1960 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, President Félix Houphouet-Boigny of

the Ivory Coast called a meeting of twelve French-speaking countries to discuss

whether they could intervene or otherwise assist in putting an end to the

Algerian conflict without upsetting France. This grouping of Cameroon, Central

African Republic, Chad, Congo (Brazzaville), Dahomey (now Benin), Gabon,

Ivory Coast, Malagasy (now Madagascar), Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, and Upper

Volta (now Burkina Faso) became known as the Brazzaville Group. In 1961, seven

other nations: Algeria, Egypt, Ghana, Guinea, Libya, Mali, and Morocco formed

the Casablanca Group. In 1961, the Monrovia Group was formed and included

all 12 Brazzaville Group nations as well as Ethiopia, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone,

Somalia, Togo, Tunisia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Kinshasa

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