Examining the African Continental Free Trade Area in the Context of a Political Federation for Africa: Towards United African States

This paper deals with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which was founded on 21 March 2018, and the creation of an African Economic Community (AEC) as envisaged in the 1991 Abuja Treaty. The AfCFTA and the AEC are potential steps towards the political federation of African countries into a single African nation. The paper highlights critical issues pertaining to the AfCFTA and proposes an effective implementation plan, including options for dealing with the Regional Economic Communities (RECs), the customs unions, the monetary communities and the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA). Overall, the AfCFTA does not have a good chance of success because – among other reasons – political commitment is not always firm in similar initiatives and also the TFTA has gained a lot more traction to a point that it is highly likely to be better implemented than the AfCFTA. The AfCFTA is, as is the TFTA, a critical step towards the creation of an AEC and in turn a potential stage towards a political federation of African countries into a single African nation. The paper makes a case for a United African States (UAS), that is, a political federation of African and Caribbean countries into a single African nation. The UAS is the answer to the many problems that African (and Caribbean) countries face, largely because these countries were wrongly carved up into “nations” when in fact there can only be one African nation rather than many so-called nations in Africa. Indeed, there can be many cultural groups as has always been the case, prior to the 1884/5 Berlin Conference which created countries and micro-states that cannot advance development for their countries/peoples.