United States of Africa?

How much do African leaders really want to unite?

By Barnaby Phillips in Lome

One of the most important subjects on the agenda at summit in Togo is the
proposal to form an African Union - a pan-African body with strong political
and economic ties intended to eventually take the place of the current
Organisation of African Unity.

Colonel Gaddafi dreams of African unity

African leaders fear their continent is becoming increasingly powerless in a
tough global economic environment.

Many believe that unless Africa can talk and act with greater cohesion, it
will continue to be virtually ignored by the richer countries.

Beyond this general consensus, which is shared by all the 30 or so heads of
state in Lome, there are considerable differences about what is the best way
to proceed.

Gaddafi for union

At one end of the spectrum is Libya's Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, who has
grabbed much of the attention here.

Togo's President Eyadema supports the idea publicly

Colonel Gaddafi raised the idea of an African Union, loosely modelled on its
European counterpart, at an extraordinary summit in Libya last year.

His ambition is that the union should come into existence, in some form, in
2001.

Colonel Gaddafi can count on support for this idea from several small
countries in Africa, like Burkina Faso and Togo, who have benefited from his
financial largesse.

Regional groupings

But some of the more powerful African countries are wary of losing their own
regional influence and concerned at any initiative that would weaken their
sovereignty or ability to act independently.

Nigeria, for example, enjoys its role as the dominant force in the existing
West African grouping, the Economic Community of West Afrian States, Ecowas.

But President Obasanjo of Nigeria does not

In recent years Ecowas has made significant progress in easing travel
restrictions in West Africa, and has started the process of establishing a
single West African currency.

In southern Africa, South Africa enjoys a similarly important role in SADC,
the Southern African Development Community.

Although SADC's effectiveness has been diminished in recent years, in part
because of political differences between South Africa and Zimbabwe, many
southern Africans would prefer to work towards regional integration first,
before looking at pan-African unity.

Likewise in East Africa, where Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania have been working
to revive the old East African Community, which collapsed in the mid-1970s
because of political and ideological differences.

There are about 50 African states, and they trade far more with the rest of
the world than they do with each other.

Despite Colonel Gaddafi's plans, its hard to see how an African Union will
mean much in practical terms, at least in the short term.

But it is possible that new pan-African institutions, such as a parliament
and a court of law, will come into existence in the next few years - possibly
providing a basis for a more united Africa in the future.

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