Regional Economic Communities

Good Governance, People-Centeredness and Transparency on the Spot: Somalia's Mysterious Journey Towards EAC Membership

This analysis dives deep into the Somalia's admission to the East Africa Community (EAC), with the objective of dissecting the admission procedure and analyzing Somalia's Accession Treaty, while scrutinizing the EAC Verification Mission Report. It was noted that while the EAC Treaty declares key principles like good governance, people-centeredness, transparency, and democracy, the specific procedures and rules that it provides for, do not do justice to those principles. This blog therefore, calls for a reform of the EAC institutions by moving the institutions further away from elitism and bureaucracy and bring it closer to the people-centeredness envisaged by the Treaty.

Draft Program of the African International Economic Law Network (AfIELN) Biennial Conference

The African International Economic Law Network (AfIELN) is pleased to share the Draft Program of its 6th Biennial Conference with the theme "International Economic Law in an Era of Multiple Crises: Opportunities and Challenges for Africa. 

Regional Economic Community Synergy in Trade through Special-Purpose Vehicles

This article argues that African member states have failed to tap into the massive potentials provided by Regional Economic Communities (RECs) due to factors including, government interferance, lack of invesstment capital, expertise and corruption. The author recommends the establishment of Special Purpose Vehicles at the REC levels, to harness these potentials and scale up the production of natural resources in the continent.

Symposium Introduction: Critical and Contextual Perspectives on International Economic Law: Amplifying the Voices of African Students and Early-Career Researcher

We hope the papers in this symposium will contribute to the ongoing efforts worldwide to achieve epistemological and methodological diversity in the IEL discipline. As a new Forum, we aim to remain flexible, experimental and responsive to the changing landscape in IEL. We will like to take this opportunity to thank the academics who have supported the Academic Forum over the last two years. We hope we can continue to count on your support as we devise robust and practical ways to decolonise and pluralise IEL research, scholarship and practice as a counterpoint to the dominant Western-centric IEL imagination.

The AU at 20: Building Partnerships for Africa’s Strategic Autonomy

The lack of international cooperation and coordination during the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of African efforts to enhance resilience and agency in international relations. While the African Union (AU) continues to face challenges in achieving greater continental integration, it has embarked on several important measures, including efforts to reform the AU to make it fitter for purpose and more efficient. Some of these efforts include reforms aimed at reducing the AU's dependence on external donors and the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA), a flagship project of the AU's Agenda 2063.

The African Union Agenda 2063 and the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration (GCM): A Case for Complementarity

The GCM has institutional structures at global, regional and national levels that seek to assist member states in the implementation of its objectives. In this regard, integrating the GCM and AU Agenda 2063 will serve a two-fold purpose. The AU member states will have robust and sound migration governance, and at the same time, AU member states will have the resilience to address migration challenges as they implement Agenda 2063. Finding synergies in the implementation of these two policy documents is crucial if Africa wants to harness the potential of migration in boosting its development and at the same time, address migration challenges.

Afronomicslaw Academic Forum Guest Lecture Series: Trade Facilitation - The Key to a Borderless Africa

On the 22nd day of May 2021, AfronomicsLaw Academic Forum held a Guest Lecture titled 'Trade Facilitation: The Key to a Borderless Africa'. The esteemed speakers were Dr Tsotang Tsietsi and Mr Craig Merito, who addressed the role of trade facilitation as a mechanism to enhance intra-African trade. Dr Tsietsi, the first speaker, is a Senior Lecturer at the National University of Lesotho. She holds an LLM from the University of Cambridge and a PhD from the University of Cape Town. Mr. Craig Merito is an international trade expert and consultant with over 25 years of experience. This piece will reflect on the issues raised by Dr Tsietsi before proceeding to those encompassed by Mr. Merito.

The Emergent African Union Law - Conceptualization, Delimitation and Application. Eds. Olufemi Amao, Michele Olivier, Konstantinos D Magliveras

This edited collection of 24 Africa experts with diverse academic and practice focused backgrounds is divided into 5 parts and 24 chapters. The focus of the book is to establish African Union (AU) law as a focal point for the development of African countries. It provides a rich vein of scholarly literature which might not always be apparent to international researchers and practitioners. The ambition is to use regional integration law as a springboard for legal and socio-economic growth by avoiding national law failures that have undermined the development of the African continent.

Book Review: The Emergent African Union Law: Conceptualisation, Delimitation and Application. Olufemi Amao, Michèle Olivier and Konstantinos D. Magliveras (eds)

This substantial volume sets out to establish the case for recognition of a new field of law. The editors propose a concept of African Union (AU) law – by analogy with the established body of European Union (EU) law – and argue for the need for such a concept in order to create “a platform to examine legal developments in Africa from an Afrocentric perspective”.

Journeying Towards an African Electricity Market: An International Economic Law Perspective

Electricity security is in today’s world a critical component for a well-functioning economy. Many African countries rely heavily on fossil fuels for electricity generation, while others have successfully harnessed renewable energy sources – Kenya being an example, with over 80% of its power generation being from renewable energy sources. With the global push to de-carbonise national economies, particularly the power sector, the interdependence of countries through electricity trade will become increasingly important. Countries are now only looking to develop their own clean energy capacity, but will in future, also seek to harness that of neighouring countries through cross-border power trade.