Towards the African Economic Community: Legal and Historical Perspectives

Abstract

This article submits that the 1963 Charter of the Organisation of African Unity provided a legal foundation for continental economic integration. This was followed by successive declarations and legal agreements such as the Lagos Plan of Action, the Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community and the Constitutive Act of the African Union, all of which became more explicit. While the Organisation of African Unity of 1963 and the African Union of 2002 respectively pronounced the direction of the continental organisations, the Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community was then established to translate the vision into actionable activities towards a continental economic community through the establishment of the Regional Economic Communities that would ultimately be the foundation blocks for the integration of the continent. The article shows that all the Regional Economic Communities have a strong legal appeal to achieve African unity and the desire to integrate African economies. Consequently, the African Union has to date attained a continental Free Trade Area and is still to attain a continental customs union and the common market using the same legal architecture, these being stages in developing an African Economic Community. The article also demonstrates that the various Regional Economic Communities owe their existence to the Charter of the Organisation of African Unity or the Lagos Plan of Action or the Abuja Treaty, all under the umbrella of the Constitutive Act of the African Union.