Policy and Management Report Union 18 Building Policy the African Policy and Management Report 18 Building the African Union An assessment of past progress and future prospects for the African Union’s institutional architecture Edited by Geert Laporte and James Mackie European Centre for Development Policy Management ECDPM works to improve relations between Europe and its partners in Africa, the Caribbean European Centre for Development Head office Brussels office [email protected] Policy Management SIÈGE BUREAU de BRUXELLES www.ecdpm.org and the Pacific L’ECDPM œuvre à l’amélioration des relations entre l’Europe et ses partenaires Onze Lieve Vrouweplein 21 Rue Archimède 5 KvK 41077447 d’Afrique, des Caraïbes et du Pacifique 6211 HE Maastricht 1000 Brussels Bruxelles The Netherlands Pays Bas Belgium Belgique Tel +31 (0)43 350 29 00 Tel +32 (0)2 237 43 10 Fax +31 (0)43 350 29 02 Fax +32 (0)2 237 43 19 ISBN: 978-90-72908-42-1 www.ecdpm.org/pmr18 Building the African Union Building the African Union An assessment of past progress and future prospects for the African Union’s institutional architecture Edited by Geert Laporte and James Mackie October 2010 1 Building the African Union www.ecdpm.org/pmr18 The ECDPM acknowledges the support it received for this publication from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Sweden, in the framework of the 2009 Swedish EU Presidency. The Centre also acknowledges additional support from other institutional partners i.e. the Ministries for Foreign Affairs in Belgium, Finland, Luxemburg, The Netherlands, and Spain, Irish Aid, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the Insituto Portugues de Apoio oa Desenvolvimeno in Portugal, and the UK Department for International Development. Disclaimer This report is based on discussions that took place during a seminar on 'Building the African Institutional Architecture' (Uppsala, Sweden - October 2009), supplemented with recent refl ections on the AU's institutional development and current and future EU-AU relations. The views expressed are those of the authors. ECDPM and the Nordic Africa Institute are members of the EARN Network. Copyright © 2010 Prior permission is not required for quoting, translating or reproducing part of the contents of this publication, provided the source is fully acknowledged as follows: Laporte G. and J. Mackie (edited by). 2010. Building the African Union: An assessment of past progress and future prospects for the African Union's institutional architecture. (ECDPM Policy and Management Report 18). Maastricht: ECDPM. www.ecdpm.org/pmr18 Photo cover: ANP/AFP ISBN: 978-90-72908-42-1 2 www.ecdpm.org/pmr18 Building the African Union Table of contents List of Acronyms .............................................................................................................. 4 Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................... 5 Foreword ...................................................................................................................... 6 Executive Summary ......................................................................................................... 8 Part 1 1. Towards a strong African Union: what are the next steps and what role can the EU play? By Geert Laporte and James Mackie ...................................................... 12 The African Union at a turning point: key challenges in a rapidly changing context ............. 12 The AU’s record in promoting African integration: what progress has been made and what lessons have been learnt? ................................................................................................... 14 Ongoing reforms and the future prospects for the AU’s institutional development .............. 17 The way forward: ten concrete ways of strengthening the African Union’s institutional architecture ................................................................................................................................................ 19 The role played by the EU in supporting the AU institutional architecture .............................. 28 Part 2 Background papers for the Uppsala seminar 2. The African Union and African Integration: Retrospect and Prospect ................... 36 By Adebayo Olukoshi 3. Competing perspectives on the AU and African integration .................................. 56 By Fredrik Söderbaum 4. The ongoing institutional reform of the AU: exploring avenues to operationalise the African Union Authority .............................................................69 By Jean Bossuyt 5. The role of the EC/EU in supporting the African Union institutional architecture ............................................................................................................... 83 By James Mackie and Jean Bossuyt Annexes: Opening remarks H.E. Erastus Mwencha ........................................................................102 Programme of the seminar................................................................................................. 110 List of participants .................................................................................................................112 3 Building the African Union www.ecdpm.org/pmr18 List of acronyms ACP African, Caribbean and Pacifi c (group of countries) AGA African Governance Architecture AMIS African Union Mission in Sudan APRM African Peer Review Mechanism APSA Africa Peace and Security Architecture AUA African Union Authority AUC African Union Commission COMESA Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa CSO Civil-society organisation EAC East African Community ECDPM European Centre for Development Policy Management ECOSOCC Economic, Social and Cultural Council of the African Union ECOWAS Economic Community of West African States EDF European Development Fund EPA Economic Partnership Agreement IDEP African Institute for Economic Development and Planning IRCC Interregional Coordination Committee ITP Institutional Transformation Programme JAES Joint Africa-EU Strategy JEG Joint Expert Group NAI Nordic Africa Institute NEPAD New Partnership for Africa’s Development OAU Organisation of African Unity ODA Offi cial Development Assistance PAP Pan-African Parliament REC Regional Economic Community SADC Southern African Development Community UNU/CRIS United Nations University Institute on Comparative Regional Integration Studies UN-ECA United Nations Economic Commission for Africa 4 www.ecdpm.org/pmr18 Building the African Union Acknowledgements The ECDPM and the NAI wish to thank the team involved in collectively producing this report, notably the principal authors, Geert Laporte and James Mackie, for their work in coordinating the publication and writing the fi rst part, and Adebayo Olukoshi, Fredrik Soderbaum, Jean Bossuyt and again James Mackie for preparing the background papers for the seminar as presented in the second part of this publication. We also wish to express our gratitude to the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs who is fi nancing this publication, for its continuous support and confi dence placed in ECDPM. This report has also benefi ted from comments made by Mats Harsmar and Fantu Cheru from the NAI, and Faten Agad, Henrike Hohmeister, Melissa Julian, Eleonora Koeb, Andrew Sherriff and Veronika Tywuschik from the ECDPM. 5 Building the African Union www.ecdpm.org/pmr18 Foreword The Nordic Africa Institute (NAI) and the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) are very pleased to present this publication. It is the fruit of a joint initiative supported by the 2009 Swedish EU Presidency and has been produced in close cooperation with the African Union Commission in Addis Ababa. It comprises a collection of papers presented by African and European policy-makers and researchers at an informal, high-level seminar held in Uppsala on 21 October 2009. The seminar was attended by around 50 people from the following institutions: the African Union Commission, the African Regional Economic Communities, the Economic, Cultural and Social Council of the African Union, the European Commission, the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, as well as a number of EU member states. The delegates also included African government offi cials and ambassadors, eminent individuals, representatives of policy research institutes, networks of African scholars and civil-society organisations, and staff of the ECDPM and NAI. The seminar was opened by the Swedish State Secretary for International Development Cooperation, Mr Joakim Stymne, with a response from the Deputy Chairperson of the AUC, Mr Erastus Mwencha. The Uppsala meeting was organised against the background of the ongoing reform of the AU. It was held shortly after the 2009 African Heads of State decision to establish the African Union Authority (AUA), amid a heated debate on the implementation of the Joint Africa-EU Strategy (JAES). The seminar sought to provide an informal platform for African and European offi cial and non-offi cial stakeholders to refl ect on, and discuss, the ongoing AU reforms and to explore the ways and means by which the EU can best support the institutional development of the AU. The seminar was held under the Chatham House rule. This meant that participants contributed on a personal, non-attributable basis and that no formal record was kept of the meeting. This is why two of the organisers, Geert Laporte and James Mackie (who are also the editors of this report), decided to write up their personal summaries of the discussions,