...AN INTELLECTUAL ENQUIRY OF THE 1992 CONSTITUTION AND ITS RELATION TO THE LAWS OF THE AFRICAN UNION. BY MICHAEL BOATENG YEBOAH , LLB (KNUST) mikeyeblaw@gmail.com INTRODUCTION AND BACKROUND TO THE AFRICAN UNION The African Union (A.U) is a geo-political entity which is carved out of the Union of African States and the Organization of African Unity (O.A.U). The Organization of African Unity was established on 25 May 1963 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia by representatives of 32 governments on the Charter of O.A.U. Upon the dawn of modern political challenges, the charter of the Organization of African Unity was branded African Union (A.U) at Durban on 9 July 2002 by President Thabo Mbeki. The African Union as of now boasts of 53 African States as its members with the exception of Morocco. The withdrawal of Morocco from O.A.U. was primarily due to the massive support Sahrawi nationalists received from the Union. Currently, the headquarters of the African Union is situated at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The primary cause for the paradigm shift from O.A.U to A.U was that; The O.A.U was politically mandated to see to the emancipation of the colonized African States however upon the emancipation of the entire African states from foreign rule; the need arose for the unification of the balkanized African States. The O.A.U as a result was re-branded A.U. to see to the unification of the entire African states after it adopted the Sirte Declaration at Libya. The A.U has the following administrative...
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...DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY AND AFRICAN STUDIES FOURAH BAY COLLEGE UNIVERSITY OF SIERRA LEONE Module: History of Pan-Africanism (HIST 417) First Semester, 2008 Instructor (Lecturer): Dr. (Professor) Alusine Jalloh Name: Josephus J. Ellie Final Year, History and Politics Research Paper (Term Paper) Topic: “The Role of Kwame Nkrumah in Pan-Africanism” Table of Contents 1. Introduction 3 2. Key Factors that Influenced Nkrumahs’ Pan – African Motives 6 3. Nkrumah’s Roles in Organizing Key Pan-African Events 8 3.1 Nkrumah’ Contributions to the 5th Pan-African Conference 8 3.2 Nkrumah in promoting African Unity 10 4. Nkrumah’s Writings and Pan-Africanism 15 5. Conclusion 16 6. References 17 Introduction There is no one way to define Pan-Africanism. What constitutes Pan-Africanism, what one might include in a Pan-African movement often changes according to whether the focus is on politics, ideology, organizations, or culture? Pan-Africanism actually reflects a range of political views. At a basic level, it is a belief that African peoples, both on the African continent and in the Diaspora, share not merely a common history, but a common destiny. This sense of interconnected pasts and futures has taken many forms, especially in the creation of political institutions. One of the earliest manifestations of Pan-Africanism...
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...Q7. Discuss the Contribution of either Julius Nyerere or Kwame Nkrumah, in the promotion of Pan Africanism. Introduction Pan Africanism is an ideology and movement that encourages the solidarity of Africans world wide.It is based on the belief that unity is vital to economic, social, and political progress and aims to “unify and uplift” people of African descent. The ideology asserts that the fate of all African peoples and countries are intertwined. At its core Pan-Africanism is “a belief that African peoples, both on the continent and in the Diaspora, share not merely a common history, but a common destiny” The largest Pan-African organization is the African Union. Kwame Nkrumah “I’m not African because I was born in Africa; I’m an African because Africa’s born in me.” Kwame Nkrumah Early Life Education Kwame Nkrumah, was born in approximately 1909 in the town of Nkroful, in the Nzima region of present-day Ghana. His father was a goldsmith by trade and kept many wives, although Kwame Nkrumah was his mother’s only child. His early education was conducted at local missionary schools, and his aptitude enabled him to attend the Government Training College in Accra in 1926. At the Government Training College, Nkrumah was trained to become a teacher and graduated in 1930 (Adi, 2003: 144). He worked as a teacher for five years and although during this time period he also contemplated a move into the priesthood. In 1935 Nkrumah decided to take his studies abroad. After a shorter...
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...THE IMPEDIMENTS OF ECONOMIC INTEGRATION IN AFRICAN ECONOMIES NARKMANEE THITIKARN 20TH MARCH, 2013 THE IMPEDIMENTS OF ECONOMIC INTEGRATION IN AFRICAN ECONOMIES Introduction Economic integration is an economic agreement between regions characterized by removal or reduction or barriers to trade and harmonization of fiscal and monetary policies. The main aim of economic integration is not only to reduce costs for producers and consumers but also to increase the volume of trade among the countries in question. Forms of Economic Integration The following are the common forms of economic integration; Preferential Tariffs In this form of integration, the parties involved levy lower rates of duty on goods imported from member countries and maintain relatively high tariffs to imports from other countries. Free trade associations Here, the member states levy no duty on imports from other member countries. Member states may charge different duty on its imports from other countries. Custom Union In custom union, free trade among the member states is protected by a unified schedule of custom duties levied on imports from other countries. In addition, if there is free mobility of both labor and capital between member states, the integration is referred to as common market. Economic Union This is integration where members states agree to harmonize their economic policies. Total economic integration In this form of integration, there is a pursuit of a common economic...
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...trading ports in Africa. Somalia lies on the East African coast of the Indian Ocean bordering Ethiopia, Djibouti, and Kenya. Over 80% of the country’s population is ethnic Somalis of Afro-Asiatic descent. Somalia has a rich history of poetry and is believed to be the first region Camels were domesticated. It is also one of the first areas of Africa were Islam was adopted. A sea full of fish and land full of natural resources one would assume this coastal country would be one of the thriving African nation states in the 21st century; those assumptions were valid a few decades ago. With the push of democracy and the pressure of Western Powers to eliminate authoritarian leader Siad Barre, eventually caused a civil war beginning in the early 90’s. Mogadishu was named the most dangerous city in the world year after year. Many Somalis fled to neighboring Kenya or to North America and Europe. The other numerous millions were abandoned by the world having to deal with civil war, droughts, and famine. Numerous failed attempts of legitimate political leaders gaining power lead to a radical Islamic Militant group rise. Al-Shabaab has been reigning terror in Somalia and neighboring East African for near a decade. With the recent push for democracy in Somalia, a western backed election resulted in a victory for Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in 2012. President Mohamud became president backed up by the world powers and the African union. His main mission was vocalized from the day he...
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...obokparo 35093 Introduction The advent of the African Union (AU) can be described as an event of great magnitude in the institutional evolution of the continent. On 9.9.1999, the Heads of State and Government of the Organization of African Unity issued a Declaration (the Sirte Declaration) calling for the establishment of an African Union, with a view, inter alia, to accelerating the process of integration in the continent to enable it play its rightful role in the global economy while addressing multifaceted social, economic and political problems compounded as they are by certain negative aspects of globalization. Cooperation goes well beyond the confines of development policy to embrace issues of global political importance such as migration, climate change and peace and security. Three profile areas have now been identified for development cooperation with sub-Saharan African states: Good governance Sustainable economic development Water Alongside cooperation with individual African states the promotion of regional and pan-African organizations is becoming increasingly important. Between 2004 and 2007, funding for development cooperation with Africa was increased by 34 per cent. If we include debt cancellation, funding in fact rose by 56 per cent. For 2009, pledges worth 1.1 billion euros are planned for sub-Saharan Africa. Cooperation between Germany and regional organizations within Africa With the founding of the African Union (AU) in July 2002, the states of Africa recognized...
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...Global Recognition or Africa’s liberation ? I recently read an interesting piece by Theodore T. Hodge titled ‘From OAU to AU: Same Old Lady, New Dress’. According to Hodge; African leaders can begin to tackle the problems of their own people when they stop playing politics at the expense of human misery. The major focus of the piece was primarily on how these leaders protect each other, no matter the circumstances and call it ‘the principle of state sovereignty’. Although Theodore T. Hodge was extremely uncharitable with his choice of words in a diplomatic sense I strongly believe he dealt with the pertinent issues he wanted to focus on. A little over a week ago, Ghana came out to join other nations in giving recognition to the National Transitional Council (NTC) of Libya and to accord them due diplomatic recognition following Muammar Gaddafi’s overthrow. When I heard this news, I felt Ghana-an oasis of peace- was brewing troubles already across the rest of Africa. And I heard a lot of comments from different quarters on why they thought Ghana should have remain silent and not rush into giving recognition to the NTC backed by the rebels. A prominent Ghanaian lecturer of international relation even said, ‘nobody would have beaten us’ if we did not recognize the NTC. Am sure he would not say that in the lecture hall. And a lot of others also opined that it was too early and premature on the part of the country and that maybe-yes maybe- it was some long hand somewhere shrouded...
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...Summary of the Case: According to the article we are able to know that the year of 2013 is the turning point for South Africa because of their economic growth. They believe that 2013 is the year of continent becomes a destination of choice for global choice. We have come to know that South Africa’s economies grown very strongly. On the other hand sub-Saharan economies such as Nigeria, Ethiopia, Angola, Ghana, Cote d’ivoire, Kenya, Uganda; while countries of developing world facing economic uncertainty.The economic growth of South Africa is not only by its wealth of natural resources but also by its investments in agriculture and manufacturing. There are lots of opportunities for private sectors now in Africa. As because of Asia’s economies growth is slow and their labor wages rise therefore Africa will become the next preferred destination for labours intensive manufacturing of products such as garments sector. They are attracted by people for their low-cost and light manufacturing though it’s still important to need to work on their humanitarian interventions. Africa will emerge in a respected member of global community in few years. Their new mission will be how to do the work in development aid to attract more private sectors. Suddenly, Africa’s economies changed for their three reasons. First of all, global uncertainty continues to be the norm in 2013, trade and investment flows between Africa and BRIC (BRAZIL, RUSSIA, INDIA, and CHINA). The second reason is Africa promotes...
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...“I am one or two days away from death; they will shoot me dead, thus if you give birth to a son please name him after me.” ----An Eritrean victim of human trafficking from The Sinai Desert INTRODUCTION This paper examines the issue of human trafficking as it relates to human security in the Horn of Africa. Trafficking takes place by criminal means through the threat or use of force, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of positions of power or abuse of positions of vulnerability. Further, it relates to all stages of the trafficking process: recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of person. An agreed definition of human trafficking exists under Article 3 of the “Palermo Protocol” on trafficking in persons which went into effect on 25 December 2003. This internationally agreed definition focuses on exploitation of human beings – be it for sexual exploitation, other forms of forced labor, slavery, servitude, or for the removal of human organs. Trafficking is not just a transnational crime across international borders; the definition applies to internal domestic trafficking of human beings. In the Horn of Africa (HOA), both cross border and internal trafficking of women and children is prevalent. For example, in Ethiopia, children are being trafficked into armed conflict where it is reported that over 20,000 of them have been victims. Almost all of the countries in the region have been identified as sources, transit points or destination...
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...predicted in last year’s African Economic Outlook, as the global economy remained weaker and some African countries saw severe domestic problems of various natures. But the world economy is improving and if the AEO 2015 predictions are right, Africa will soon be closing in on the impressive growth levels seen before the 2008/09 global economic crisis. Figure 1. Africa’s economic growth, 2002-16 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014(e) 2015(p) 2016(p) Africa Africa excluding Libya Growth rate (%) Note: (e) estimates; (p) projections. Source: Statistics Department, African Development Bank. West Africa achieved relatively high growth of 6% in 2014 despite its battle with the Ebola virus (Box 1). Nigeria’s growth of 6.3% came mainly from non-oil sectors showing that the economy is diversifying. But Southern Africa’s growth fell below 3% as the key South African economy only grew by 1.5%. Overview ii African Economic Outlook © AfDB, OECD, UNDP 2015 iii Table 1. Africa’s growth by region, 2013-16 (Real GDP growth in percent) 2013 2014 (e) 2015 (p) 2016 (p) Africa 3.5 3.9 4.5 5.0 Central Africa 4.1 5.6 5.5 5.8 East Africa 4.7 7.1 5.6 6.7 North Africa 1.6 1.7 4.5 4.4 Southern Africa 3.6 2.7 3.1 3.5 West Africa 5.7 6.0 5.0 6.1 Memorandum items: Africa excl. Libya 4.0 4.3 4.3 5.0 Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) 4.7 5.2 4.6 5.4 SSA excl. South Africa 5.4 6.2 5.2 6.2 Note: (e) estimates; (p) projections. Source: Statistics Department, African Development Bank...
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...IMPLICATIONS OF 2014 ELECTIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA’S ECONOMICAL AND POLITICAL FOREIGN POLICIES (in Africa) Presented by Mwayaona Safari[jacques.safari@gmail.com], 2014 Essay Draft (Assignment 1 final) TOPIC 2014 is election year in South Africa. This carries serious implications for the country's political and economic standing overseas. DELIMITATION In order to properly orient the development of this topic, we will define our remarks on South African foreign policy and the consequences on the African continent only. DEVELOPMENT The position of South Africa is central in African politics and economics. The change of politics in South Africa could imply many economical and political changes for both the whole continent and South Africa. These upcoming elections carry within them the seeds of change. South Africa has strong trade relations with many countries in Africa and recently, has developed many programmes on the continent. Energy (electricity and oil) There are many challenges in South Africa today. One of those biggest challenges is Energy. South Africa’s economy’s growing faster and by the end of 2030 it will require twice the electricity needed today as reported by SouthAfrica.info (2012). The successful example we can take to explain our point of view is the Democratic Republic of the Congo where mass Oil resources have been discovered and which has massive electricity potentiality. Recently, South Africa has signed an agreement on the Grand Inga barrage (SouthAfrica...
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...African speech[edit] On 27 July 2007, Sarkozy delivered a speech in Senegal, written by Henri Guaino, in which he made reference to "African peasants"[43][44] (note that the French word "paysans" can be translated as either "peasants" or as "rural people") and said that colonialism was not the cause of all of Africa's problems,[43] France made mistakes in Africa though "did not exploit anyone",[44] and asked young Africans to fight against corruption and violence.[44] “ | The tragedy of Africa is that the African has never really entered into history... They have never really launched themselves into the future... The African peasant, who for thousands of years has lived according to the seasons, whose life ideal was to be in harmony with nature, only knew the eternal renewal of time... In this imaginary world, where everything starts over and over again, there is room neither for human endeavour, nor for the idea of progress... The problem of Africa... is to be found here. Africa's challenge is to enter to a greater extent into history... It is to realise that the golden age that Africa is forever recalling will not return, because it has never existed. | ” | — Sarkozy, at a speech in Senegal, [44] | The remarks were widely condemned by African intellectuals; many, such as Achille Mbembe, Mamadou Diouf or Ibrahima Thioub, viewed them not only as racist, but as displaying a deep ignorance by Sarkozy of African studies, wondering how it was possible to hold similar discourses...
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...development policy 304 East 45th Street new york, ny 10017 u.S.A. E-mail: poverty.reduction@undp.org Website: www.undp.org/poverty disclaimer the views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily representthose of the united nations, including undp, or their Member States. taBle of contents Content Page 2 3 7 9 9 9 12 13 14 14 15 15 18 20 24 25 27 27 31 31 31 36 36 38 38 41 43 46 48 48 49 53 55 57 59 60 63 68 84 List of Acronyms and Abbreviations Executive Summary Introduction 1. regional economic integration and human development 1.1. conceptual linkages 1.1.1 Income 1.1.2 Access to services 1.1.3 Empowerment 1.1.4 Sustainability 1.2. contextual factors 2. the context for African regional integration 2.1. Geographical fragmentation 2.2. capacities, institutions and domestic policies 2.3. climate, nutrition and health 2.5. the environment and common resources 2.6. Should Africa look outward, inward, or both? 3. Estimating the impact of regional integration in Africa 3.1 Estimating the scope and benefits of integration 3.2 the modeling of integration 3.2.1 the regional, continental and global integration paths i) regional and continental integration paths ii) Global integration paths 3.2.2 the impact on human development i) the impact on poverty ii) the impact on employment iii) the impact on the sector composition of production iv) the impact on factors of production v) the impact on GHG emissions 4. the experience...
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...In 2008 African Command began conducting formal operations and from that time to the present much work has been done. However, could we accomplish more lasting results that would benefit Africans by adjusting the method in which we approach the problem? By 10 September 2011 Word count 1885 United States Africa Command (AFRICOM), while unique in nature and mission design, is best suited today to meet the opportunities and challenges it currently is faces with in Africa than any other time in its short four year history. AFRICOM is designed to promote United States national security objectives by working with African Nations and regional organizations in an effort to strengthen stability and ensure security within the continent of Africa. Since becoming operational in 2008, AFRICOM now sits in a prime position from which lasting results can be achieved. After four years of forging relationships and developing trust among its associated partners and working with leading Intergovernmental organizations (IGO) and Non-governmental organizations (NGO), AFRICOM should now adjust its approach to achieving security and stability by taking a new concentrated approach in terms of “One Nation One Year”. Security and stability are directly linked to development. Underdeveloped nations create safe haven areas where terrorist organizations can flourish which is a major concern as it directly has the potential to threaten United States national security and world prosperity...
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...world’s largest economy by 2016. Among various domestic and international plays, one of China’s most fascinating uses of its newfound economic might is a considerable interest—and investment—in the continent of Africa. As its economy grew throughout the 2000s, China began establishing oil and mining firms across Africa. In return for the cooperation of African governments, China built new roads, bridges, and other varieties of desperately needed infrastructure. The economic powerhouse’s inroads into the African market quickly widened, and so did the scope of its investments. For every new mining and drilling operation, China built new governmental buildings, sports stadiums and housing complexes. China’s most prominent declaration of its intent to strengthen ties with Africa, however, was the construction of the $200 million African Union building in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Today, China’s trade with Africa exceeds $190 billion—up from just $10 billion in 2000. Many African leaders see China’s willingness to invest in Africa as an endorsement of the continent’s economic potential, or as African Union chairperson and President of Equatorial Guinea Teodoro Obiang Nguema puts it, “a reflection of the new Africa.” Others, however, see China’s...
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