Adonis & Abbey Publishers

editor@adonis-abbey.com UK: +44(0)20 7692 0770 / Nigeria:+23470 5807 8841

JOURNAL OF AFRICAN UNION STUDIES (JoAUS) Volume 9, Issue 3, December 2020

About This Edition

ISSN : ISSN: 2050-4292 E-ISSN: 2050-4306

ISBN :

To buy or subscribe,
please email:
sales@adonis-abbey.com

The African Union, which succeeded the Organisation of African Unity on July 9 2002, is often criticised for being largely a talk shop that has not markedly succeeded in either forging African unity or creating a sustainable roadmap for its political and economic development aspirations (Davis, 2019; Okhonmina, 2009) . In fact when in 1999, the Heads of State and Government of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) issued the Sirte Declaration calling for the establishment of the African Union, some critics saw it as more of a ‘bleaching complex’ in which African Heads of States felt they would be more accepted by world leaders if their continental organisations sounded like the European Union and modelled after it (Trivedi, 2003) - but obviously without bothering whether a mere change in name would automatically imbue the new organisation with the sort of organic arrangements that helped to bind the members of the European Union together.

Assessments such as the above however appear to be either too hasty or a reflection of the afro-pessimism that sometimes leads to self-doubt, self hate and even a failure to recognize the modest gains being achieved. African Union – just as Africa itself - continues to face enormous challenges but is also increasingly making efforts either on its own or in concert with various regional economic communities in the continent as well as multilateral and bilateral agencies to create a new Africa that will not only be united but also play a meaningful role in the global political economy.

The Journal of African Union Studies was founded in 2012 as a tri-annual, two-double-blind reviewed (meaning that each article is evaluated by two reviewers and with the identities of both the reviewers and the authors concealed from one another) academic journal which would robustly interrogate the various initiatives from the African Union, the various regional economic communities and multilateral and bilateral agencies that are inspired by its philosophy.

The journal welcomes well-researched papers on the African Union and the various Regional Economic Communities in Africa- the Arab Maghreb Union, the Economic Community of West African States, the East African Community, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, the Southern African Development Community, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, the Economic Community of Central African States and the Community of Sahel-Saharan States etc. It is equally interested in researches on various bilateral and multilateral commissions in the continent, including those outside the continent which have relevance for African Union’s integrative efforts.

In this issue of the journal, some scholars interrogate aspects of the African Union’s initiatives (or initiatives by African Union’s philosophy of uniting the continent and African solutions for African problems:

Ikemefuna Taire, Paul Okudolo andItumeleng Mekoa in ‘NEPAD and the Struggle to Improve the Efficiency of Africa’s Public Sector: A Case Study of Nigeria’s Servicecom’ evaluated Nigeria’s Service Compact with All Nigerians (SERVICOM) policy as a derivative of the AU’s New Partnership for Africa’s Development. They noted that the “cardinal policy thrust of NEPAD, of which SERVICOM is consequentially from, is partly to ensure that the continent’s public services are poised to deliver accelerated social, economic and political development, as well as ensure the facilitation of good governance.” They further noted that the “most arduous task to concretize the NEPAD development agenda has to do with instituting capable public sectors that can deliver on their mandates.”. They contended that to “enliven the SERVICOM policy, Nigeria’s public servants will be reinforcing NEPAD eventually because SERVICOM complements NEPAD realizations; they accentuate one overarching goal which is the overcoming of inefficient public sector performances that contribute to Africa’s general underdevelopment.”

Yeheys Nardos Hawaz and Chen, Xi in their article “From Nile Basin Initiatives ( NBI ) to External mediator: Challenges of the Ethiopia’s Renaissance Dam Negotiations” examine the challenges in the Renaissance Dam negotiations between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia and African Union’s role in it. They noted that “the Nile Basin countries, the United States and the World Bank, as well as the African Union, have worked hard to defuse the diplomatic crisis over the construction of the dam.” They further noted that one of the main challenges of NBI is that, “it is based on external financial support. Since the inception of the initiative in 1999, 10 development partners have come together to form the Nile Basin Cooperation Fund (NBTF) to realize this common

vision.” They believe that the African Union, which is a relatively late comer to the negotiation, is “on a positive path to finding a comprehensive, balanced and sustainable solution” to the problem.

In their paper, ‘The United Nations, International Criminal Court and African Union’s Delayed Response to the Prolonged Dictatorship in Sudan’, Rapanyane Makhura Benjamin, Sethole Florence Ramasela and Tirivangasi Happy Mathew explored the delayed responses of international and continental bodies in safeguarding the human rights of the people of Sudan. The central question the authors grappled with was: how effective was the international and continental peacekeeping, security, and human rights bodies in dealing with the Sudanese cases of genocide, war crimes, crime against humanity and ethnic cleansing? They contended that the “United Nations (UN), the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) through [its]Responsibility to Protect (R2P), and the African Union (AU) failed in the resolution of the Sudanese civil war since 1989, the Darfur crisis, and Bashir’s continued dictatorial rule after South Sudan’s independence in 2011.”

Bewuketu Dires Gardachew in ‘Obstacles to the “African Solutions” Approach: Can the African Union Realize a Peaceful and Secure Africa?’ examined why the African Mission in Sudan (AMIS) and the African Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) were both constrained in their attempts to find durable peace in Darfur and Somalia, respectively. He noted that the AU faced serious financial and material challenges to be able to sustain peace operations in both countries. He contended that “given the limited financing from AU member states, weak military capacity, and division among member states over intervention, achieving the ambitious objective of African solutions to African problems will remain impossible for the foreseeable future.”

Olumide Adetokunbo Fafore in ‘The African Union Collective Security Mechanisms and the Challenges of Armed Non-State Actors’ noted that the African continent has seen a shift in the character of conflicts - from inter-state to intra-state, with majority of these intra-state conflicts which are caused by armed non-state actors resulting in fragmented conflicts across borders and concomitantly increasing insecurity and instability in the continent. He also noted that the “African Union has since its establishment in 2001, adopted the principles of collective security to respond to the several challenges on the continent such as terrorism, increasing insecurity, proliferation of arms and political instability among others.” Essentially the author seeks to interrogate the African Union’s collective security mechanisms with a view to identifying lessons for combating the challenges of armed non-state actors in Africa.

The Journal of African Union welcomes relevant, original and well researched articles all-year round. You can send your articles to: info@adonis-abbey.com, copying editor@adonis-abbey.com.

UNITED KINGDOM (HEAD OFFICE)
Adonis & Abbey Publishers Ltd
3rd Floor
207 Regent Street
London W1B 3HH
020 7692 0770

NIGERIA
Adonis & Abbey Publishers Ltd
Unit 1 Plot 1368
Vintage Hill Estate Guzape
Cadastral Zone A09 ABUJA

UK: 0207 692 0770
Nigeria: +234 816 597 0458 +234 805 221 3212
editor@adonis-abbey.com (for editorial inquiries)
info@adonis-abbey.com (for general inquiries)
sales@adonis-abbey.com (for sales and other inquiries)