The African Union launches the “operational phase” this weekend of a long-awaited trade accord, but analysts say the continent faces an uphill task to transform the pact into reality. The 55-nation AU, gathering for a summit in Niger, will give the formal push to a deal to phase out tariffs on trade from the Cape of Good Hope to Cairo. By doing so, say supporters of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA), business between African nations will boom. The economy of Africa, with a GDP of $2.5 trillion today, will reach takeoff just as its 1.2 billion population doubles over the next three decades, they predict. “It’s a remarkable achievement, and one that can even be described as historic,” AU Commission chief Moussa Faki Mahamat said Thursday in the Niger capital Niamey. Backers were given something to celebrate ahead of the summit: on Tuesday, Nigeria, the continent’s largest and most populous economy, said it would sign after long holding back. Talks on free trade began back in 2002, culminating in a deal that in late May crossed the threshold of ratification by at least 22 countries. That tally is now 25 out of 55 AU members. Benin and Eritrea are the last countries yet to sign. ‘Made in Africa’ The sunny mood may well sour when the AU is confronted with the realities of the task at hand, say observers. “Negotiations on some very important points have not yet been completed,” said Trudi Hartzenberg, director at Tralac, a specialist...

The African Union said on Thursday that it will launch the operational phase of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) at an Extraordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government on July 7 in Niamey, Niger. According to the AU, the launch will be part of a series of statutory and technical meetings to be held in Niamey between July 4 and July 7. The first coordination meeting between the AU and the Regional Economic Communities is also set to take place on July 8. African Union Commission (AUC) Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat termed the event as a remarkable and historic achievement. Africa Tembelea has also learnt that the AU said that a decision on the location of the secretariat of the AfCFTA is also expected to be made. The secretariat’s primary mandate will be the implementation the agreement. Seven countries have submitted bids to host the secretariat. They are: Egypt, Ethiopia, Eswatini, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar and Senegal. The AU’s Executive Council will elect four board members of the African Union Advisory Board on Corruption and prepare the draft agenda and decisions for the 12th Extraordinary Assembly that will launch the AfCFTA. The AU noted that the launch of the operational phase means that traders across Africa will be able to make use of preferential trading arrangements offered by the AfCFTA AfCFTA came into force in May after a minimum of 22 ratifications by member states of the AU were deposited. Three additional instruments of ratification have been deposited;...

African leaders will decide on Sunday which nation will host the headquarters for a continental free-trade zone that aims to eventually unite the continent’s 1.27 billion people and its $3.4 trillion nominal gross domestic product. Leaders at the African Union summit in Niger will also set a date for trading to begin in the African Continental Free Trade Area, a deal that 52 of the continent’s 55 states have signed, although only 25 have ratified it. The bloc aims to ultimately remove trade barriers and tariffs between members. WHICH COUNTRIES WANT THE HEADQUARTERS? Under the Addis Ababa-based African Union’s rules, all of its 55 members may bid to host the headquarters. Kenya, Ghana, eSwatini, Madagascar and Egypt are all in the race. Ethiopia and Senegal have pulled out. Those in the race represent the continent’s main regions: Kenya from the east, Ghana from the west, eSwatini for southern Africa, Madagascar for the Indian Ocean islands and Egypt representing the north. Egypt holds the AU presidency this year and has been promoting itself as a linchpin for African trade. “Egypt is one of the oldest members of the African Union and enjoys strong relations with African states,” said an official from Egypt’s trade ministry. “We have all the requirements.” WHAT ARE THEIR CHANCES? Kenya and Egypt already host head offices for other international bodies and are well connected by established national airlines. Kenya hosts the headquarters of the U.N. agencies for the environment and for urban development: UNEP and UN-Habitat. Egypt...

Speaking in Dar es Salaam earlier this week, Deputy Secretary General of the EAC who is in charge of Productive and Social Sectors, Christophe Bazivamo said the portal which is already designed, targets to enable women entrepreneurs exploit the over a billion continental market. Bazivamo pointed out that through the 50 Million African Women Speak Networking platform project, the EAC Secretariat received over U$3.52 million grant from African Development Bank (AfDB) to implement the three year project for the period 2017/20. “The grant among other things is also aimed at educating governments, financial institutions and not-for-profit organizations on the importance of empowering women entrepreneurs through easy access to finance,” the EAC Deputy Secretary General said. Wilson Muyenzi who is the 50MWS Project Coordinator from EAC Secretariat, clarified that the main objective of the portal is to enable women entrepreneurs from the region to communicate directly and share information and exploit Africa’s largest post independence market covering 38 countries. “Our findings together with AfDB shows about 54 per cent of the EAC region’s population are women whereby 65 percent of them engage in agribusiness and trade. Bringing them together through this platform means a lot for the continent’s economic destiny,” said Muyenzi. According to him, there are about 950 million women from the 38 countries where the project is being implemented out of which 500 million are entrepreneurs with at least 10 percent are being targeted. “Access to finance by women has been a challenge. We started by educating banks and...

The African Union has partnered with the EAC to set the pace for the recognition and promotion of Kiswahili as a Language of Wider Communication in the whole of Africa. Under The Dar-es-Salaam Framework of Action adopted by the African Academy of Languages (ACALAN), AU’s specialized institution mandated to develop and promote African Languages, and the East African Kiswahili Commission (Kamisheni ya Kiswahili Afrika Mashariki - KAKAMA), an EAC institution charged with harmonization, coordination and promotion of the development and use of Kiswahili for regional integration and sustainable development, the two organizations agreed and committed to work closely and with other organizations on the continent and beyond to achieve the set goal. Addressing a Consultative Meeting on the Promotion of Kiswahili as a Language of Wider Communication in Africa held on 26th-28th June, 2019 in Dar-es-Salaam, the Minister for Information, Culture, Arts and Sports of the United Republic of Tanzania, Dr. Harrisson G. Mwakyembe, challenged participants drawn from across the continent to galvanize the spirit and energy of Pan-Africanism and the need for Africa and persons of African descent to be united. He said Kiswahili provides a platform for the promotion of a feeling of solidarity and pride among the people of the African world by inculcating pride in African values and consciousness. Dr. Mwakyembe said there was a legitimate need and interest in the promotion of Kiswahili as a Pan-African language of integration and development as a response to globalization and regionalization movements now in vogue across the world. He said the cases...

Africa’s output grew by 3.4 per cent between 2017 and 2018 despite the slowdown in global growth during that period, according to the African Export-Import Bank’s latest report. The report dubbed ‘African Trade Report 2019: African Trade in a Digital World,’  launched on June 21 in Moscow, Russia, during the 26th Afreximbank Annual Meetings, shows  that Africa’s total merchandise trade in 2018 had a value of over $997.9 billion, noting that the continent remained one of the fastest growing regions in the world. World Trade Organisation estimates show that the volume of global merchandise trade grew by 3per cent in 2018, down from 4.6per cent in 2017. The African Trade Report 2019 findings highlight the resilience of Africa’s economies to global volatility at a time of rising uncertainty, escalating trade wars and tariffs between the United States, China and others. The resilience reflects the diversification of Africa’s trading partners in the context of South-South trade, growing fixed investment and public and private consumption, boosted by expanding urban populations and softening inflation. These factors reduce Africa’s exposure to the business cycles associated with individual countries and regions. The report noted that while the European Union remained Africa’s main continental trading partner in 2018 – accounting for 29.8 per cent of total trade – African trade with the South grew significantly over the last decade to account for more than 35 per cent of the continent’s total trade in 2018. China and India further consolidated their positions as Africa’s first and second single largest trading partners, accounting for over...

The value of Kenya's main exports declined by 3.1 per cent to Sh137.5 billion in the first quarter of 2019 compared to Sh141.9 billion registered in a similar period in 2018 . Tea, horticulture, apparel and clothing accessories and unroasted coffee top as the country's leading foreign exchange earners. According to Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, the decline was  on account of decreased revenues from tea and titanium ores and concentrates. Exports of titanium ores and tea declined to Sh3 billion from Sh4.19 billion, and to Sh31.37 billion from Sh40.09 billion respectively. “The reduction in international price of tea partly contributed to the decrease in the value of tea exported which dropped from Sh307.71 per kilogramme to Sh237.54 per kg over the period,” it stated. The data also attributed the drop in earnings from domestic exports of tea to Pakistan to Sh13.05 billion from sh18.61 billion. This led to an overall decline in total exports to Far East Asia. Total exports to Asia fell by 20.9 per cent from Sh51.7 billion in the first quarter of 2018 to Sh 40.9 billion. Total value of exports declined to Sh156.9 billion, from Sh161.7 billion over the period. Export earnings of horticultural products however went up by seven per cent to Sh36.8 billion in the first quarter of 2019 to become the leading foreign exchange earner. Clothing and apparel earned the country Sh7.65 billion, slightly more from Sh7.47 billion. Total exports to Africa were valued at Sh53.4 billion, accounting for 34.1 per cent...

The Nigerian government Tuesday said it will sign the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) at the upcoming Extraordinary Summit of the African Union in the Nigerien capital city, Niamey. The extraordinary summit is expected to hold on July 7, according to information African Union’s website. Africa’s most populous abstained from signing the agreement initially, saying it was weighing the effects it will have on its economy. “Nigeria is signing the #AfCFTA Agreement after extensive domestic consultations,” the government said in a statement. African Union’s commissioner for trade and industry Albert Muchanga said Nigeria ratifying the agreement is a “good and important development.” AfCFTA came into effect in March with 52 out of 55 countries backing the policy. The Brookings institution described Nigeria’s decision to not ratify the agreement at the time as “baffling”. Two countries – Eritrea and Nigeria’s neighbour the Republic of Benin – are yet to sign the agreement. Being the continent’s biggest market and bedevilled by porous and poorly manned borders, Nigeria is wary it may become a dumping ground for all sorts of goods, especially those not made in Africa. It said it is “focused on taking advantage of ongoing negotiations to secure the necessary safeguards against smuggling, dumping and other risks/threats.” Nigerian government acquiesced to sign the agreement after a panel set up by President Muhammadu Buhari in March gave AfCFTA a positive nod. “Our reports show that, on balance, Nigeria should consider joining the AfCFTA”, the panel’s chair, Desmond Guobadia, said in a statement to the president Thursday...

Kisumu residents and those living along the proposed Naivasha–Kisumu Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) line have reason to celebrate. This follows Transport and Infrastructure CS James Macharia’s assurance that rail construction was on course.Other Kenyans can also join the celebrations because the benefits will be enjoyed by the entire country. These benefits will be particularly when the railway line is extended to Malaba where it is expected to link up with the one Ugandans plan to build. The SGR line is expected to join the four East African countries of Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan whose presidents signed a SGR protocol. The plan is that the line would later be extended to West Africa but with Mombasa-Lamu serving as the entry ports.A cursory calculation of the benefits that Kenya will reap as gateway to such a vast area is what has attracted the attention of global players whose business interests will be disrupted once the project is completed. This is what has attracted criticisms of the Kenyan portion of the SGR project. To be fair to the critics, some of their criticism may be justified. The cost, for example, appears to have been exaggerated when compared to similar projects elsewhere.Contracts signedThe cost of land compensation for the affected individuals is suspect. The finer details of the contracts signed between the lending banks, the contractors and the government may also not pass close scrutiny.These areas will, hopefully, be addressed. The set up of industries that produce export goods meant to boost revenues...

The thing that continues to astonish – in the ongoing Museveni-created hostile relations between Kampala and Kigali – is how up to now so few Ugandans have shown concern for the more than a thousand Rwandans incarcerated in Ugandan prisons, or in the torture dungeons of its security agencies. There have been endless reports of Uganda Police in the border areas, most notoriously in around Kisoro, singling out Rwandans from buses at roadblocks and arresting them on charges of “illegal entry”. There have been equally numerous reports that “illegal entry” is a favorite concocted charge to harass, jail and torture Rwandans. Media has interviewed very many Rwandan victims of Ugandan security forces, when taken into custody on concocted charges. Each and every one of the victims has said even when they showed a valid travel document, Ugandan security agents just confiscate them, and charge the Rwandans with illegal entry! They then take them away to unknown locations, from where, after torture they are transferred to prisons. None other than the Rwandan head of state has said, “If these people have committed crimes, why not try them openly in courts? Why not give the issue transparency?” There have been numerous reports that Uganda’s continued illegal arrests of citizens of a member state of the East African Community violate the protocols that established the EAC Common Market – specifically the laws on freedom of movement of peoples and goods. It has reached a point whereby Rwandan citizens are suing Uganda in the...