African Union News

The North American Union (NAU) appears to be modeling itself on a European Union (EU) that has already been subverted by corporate interests. So what direction will the proposed United States of Africa take? Bookmark this page and keep up with the latest developments.

January 6, 2008

Africa's Hope for Unity Lies in Information Technology
Ghana, formerly Gold Coast, was in 1957 the first African nation to attain independence from Britain. That was 51 years ago, and Ghana's charismatic leader Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the visionary leader that he was, spoke about the urgent need to liberate and unite the whole continent of Africa for the empowerment of its people. In July 2007, half a century after Ghana's independence, leaders of 53 independent African states convened in a summit in the Ghanaian capital of Accra to revive the Nkrumah dream of forming "the United States of Africa." The meeting ended without a clear roadmap for establishing such unity.
Read article at mshale.com

December 14, 2007

United States of Africa on agenda
Cape Town - Uniting the continent in a United States of Africa is one of the key international policy issues to be discussed by the ANC at Polokwane next week. This emerged from discussions at the June policy conference, which also welcomed the establishment of a pan-African fund to promote infrastructure development in the continent. The conference broadly supported the idea of establishing a union government in a United States of Africa "as a step towards a strategic goal of unification of Africa". This ambitious task should be carried out by building regional economic blocs and strengthening the African Union, the policy conference proposed.
Read article in Business Report (South Africa)

August 20, 2007

East Africa: AU Calls Region to Integrate
African economies must integrate if they are to get out of poverty and achieve the much desired development agendas, a leading continental ministerial group has said. African economic integration was the key issue of discussion at a two day Conference of Ministers of the African Union (AU) in charge of Integration (COMAI) recently in Kigali. The meeting was meant to rationalize and harmonize of regional economic communities (RECs) and was organized by the African Union Commission (AU) and the government of Rwanda.
Read article from East African Business Week (Kampala, Uganda) at allafrica.com

August 20, 2007

East Africa: Region to Have Single Currency by 2012
THE East African heads of state yesterday resolved to have a common market and a single currency by 2012, then move on to a political federation. While noting the overwhelming support of East Africans for a political federation, the leaders decided to "move expeditiously towards establishing a common market and a monetary union by 2012." The common market would allow the free circulation of goods and movement of the people within the region. To ease this, one common passport will be used within the five countries.
Read article from The New Vision (Kampala, Uganda) at allafrica.com

August 13, 2007

United States of Africa talks continue
THE DEBATE on a United States of Africa is set to continue at the SADC meeting scheduled to begin in Lusaka, Zambia, tomorrow. In a statement released yesterday, the Foreign Affairs ministry said the SADC (Southern African Development Community) Council of Ministers would discuss a report on regional economic integration. The idea of a United States of Africa caused major splits during the African Union summit held in Ghana earlier this year.
Read article at dispatch.co.za (South Africa)

July 30, 2007

Africa: Mark Wants Free Movement of Goods, Persons Within Africa
THE President of the Senate, Senator David Mark had called for the free movement of persons and goods throughout Africa. Receiving visiting Parliamentarians from Namibia, Senator Mark said the removal of all barriers within the continent would facilitate trade and improve cooperation among the countries of the continent. The Namibian delegation led by Hon. Lucia Basson was led to the Senate President by Senator Gbemisola Saraki, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Marine Transport who used the occasion to praise the Senate President for his gender sensitivity. "We must work towards eliminating Visa problems within our continent. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has started it and it must spread round Africa so that travelling within Africa is made easier," Senator Mark said.
Read editorial from the Vanguard (Lagos) at allafrica.com

July 10, 2007

Africa: A United States of Africa?
APPROXIMATELY 50 years after the late Ghanaian President, Kwame Nkrumah, publicly called for a United States of Africa following his country's independence in 1957, the issue of a formalized, structured, African political integration on a continental scale, once more reverberated at the just concluded African Union (AU), Summit at Accra, Ghana. The call for one continental government then, as with today, had galvanized and polarized African leaders and their ideologues into two different, but non-opposing camps. While some had urged immediate action on the issue, others had called for caution. However, everyone agreed that it was an inevitable proposition.
Read editorial from the Daily Champion (Lagos) at allafrica.com

July 2, 2007

'Take the bull by the horns' for a new Africa
Positions are being staked out concerning the establishment of a pan-African government, at the annual summit of the African Union under way in Accra. Heads of state and government from around the continent began meeting in the Ghanaian capital on Sunday; they will wrap up talks on Tuesday. Of the 53 AU members, about 30 are represented by their leaders. Continent-wide administration is the key issue on the agenda of this year's summit. A 2006 study by the AU, An African Union Government: Towards the United States of Africa, has suggested that such an administration could be in place by 2015 -- fulfilling an aspiration that dates back to the founding of the union's predecessor, the Organisation of African Unity. While some are cautious about the creation of an AU government, others believe it is key to helping Africa emerge from poverty and under-development.
Read article in the Mail & Guardian Online (South Africa)