African Union (AU) Chairperson
and Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame (R) speaks with African leaders
on DR Congo election at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, on
January 17, 2019. EDUARDO SOTERAS / AFP
With 18 of the continent’s required 22 states almost having
completed the processes for the take-off of the African Continental
Free Trade Agreement, AfCFTA, chances are that the President Paul
Kagame chairmanship of the African Union Council of Heads of States
which was expected to come to a close in January, may have
established firm foundations for delivering on the promise of
inaugurating the world’s largest free trade area in the next few
weeks.
The treaty, whose open endorsement process formally began in
Kigali, Rwanda in March, 2018, has presently been signed by 49 of
the continent’s 55 states at two summits of Africa’s heads of
states held in Kigali and Nouakchott in March and July, 2018.
However, there are accompanying provisions for ratification by
the national parliaments of the respective nations as well as the
formal depositing of the instruments of endorsement at the African
Union Secretariat in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
At the close of January, nine states had completed the three
required phases. They are Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, Niger, Chad,
e-swatini (formerly Swaziland), Guinea, Uganda and Cote
D’Ivoire.
On February 1, another West African nation, Mali became the 10th
African nation to complete all of the required processes when it
delivered its instruments of ratification to the AU Secretariat at
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
On their part, South Africa and Mauritania have scaled the
second hurdle of parliamentary consent while Sierra Leone, Senegal,
Namibia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Togo are said to
already be on track to secure parliamentary approvals for the
treaty shortly.
The island of Djibouti is also one other nation that is reported
as having commenced internal parliamentary discussions on the
treaty after its President had assented to it.
Analysts believe that the processes in these nations and at
least four others would have been concluded by the time of the next
Council of Heads of States Summit billed to hold in the next few
days.
Egyptian President, Al-Sisi was billed to take over from Kagame
as the next Chairperson of the Assembly of Heads of States of the
Union.
Read more afcfta-with-18-states-almost-in-au-set-to-deliver/