Economic Integration And The Potential Impact Of Xenophobia On The African Free Continental Trade Agreement. By Temitayo Fiki and Mohammed Adediji

The importance of economic integration, a term which has been described as a process whereby countries cooperate with each other to reduce or eliminate barriers to the international flow of products, people or capital cannot be overemphasized.

Countries who join their economies have proven to enjoy benefits such as the attraction of foreign investment, enhanced cooperation amongst party states, fostered security and generally the attainment of economic development. It is in realization of these benefits that there exists today economic blocs such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the European Union (EU), the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the Union of South American Nations (USAN) and more recently the African Continental Free Trade Area (herein referred to as ACFTA) which is the focus of this article.

The clamor for a unified Africa dates back to the first president of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah who proposed an integration of the African continent which would culminate in the creation of a United States of Africa. Whilst some of his ideas could be faulted, it remains a fact that the underlying intentions behind those ideas are what makes him respected and revered today. It is also in furtherance of his ideas that attempts had been made prior to the birthing of the ACFTA at the continental and regional levels of Africa. These attempts can be traced back to the adoption of the Organization of African Union Charter (OAU) in 1963 which envisioned initiatives to integrate the Africa region for the promotion of economic and social development. This effort was taken a notch further through the adoption of the Lagos Plan of Action (LPA) in 1980.

The determination to integrate Africa in the face of pitfalls continued through the Treaty Establishing the African Economic Treaty (Abuja Treaty) which came into force in 1994. This treaty was borne out of the desire by the then Heads of States to see to the realization of the LPA in 1991. The goal of the Abuja Treaty was to overtime form an African Economic Community composed of all African states over a period of 34 years through six stages of integration. At the regional level, bodies such as the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the East African Community (EAC) have also been formed amongst others.

The journey to the eventual realization of the ACFTA has been without doubt a long one. It is a journey which began at the 18^th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union in 2012. At that session, the Heads of State set an operational date of 2017 for the treaty to come into effect. However, due to the inability to reach a consensus amongst Member States, the treaty did not come to life until March 21, 2018 during the 18^th Extraordinary Session of the Assembly of African Union Heads of State and Governments.

Prominent among States who initially held back on signing the Treaty are Nigeria and South Africa who argued that they needed time to consult with relevant stakeholders in their home countries before signing the Treaty. Nigeria and South Africa would later go on to sign the Treaty in an action that has been applauded by experts as a boost to the actualization of a Unified Africa.

However, recent events, particularly the xenophobic attacks in South Africa have called into question the long-term feasibility of the ACFTA. Xenophobia has been defined as the feeling of fear or hatred towards something strange or foreign. Andreas Wimmer defines the term as an element of a political struggle about who has the right to be cared for by the state and society: a fight for the collective goods of the modern state.

Xenophobia manifests itself by acts of suspicion, racism, stereotypes, discrimination and even the desire to eliminate or kill persons of different cultures or nationalities. There are several instances of xenophobic attacks all over the world, and in Africa, instances abound of discriminatory attacks by nationals against other Africans. The love-hate relationship between Nigeria and Ghana which, in 1969 led to the expulsion of over 100,000 foreigners resident in Ghana (majority of which were Nigerians) by the Government is important to note. Also, in the famous “Ghana Must Go” campaign of 1983, over a million Ghanaians were expelled from Nigeria. In Botswana, in a bid to frustrate foreigners and particularly Rwandans in the early 2000’s the government of Botswana came up with extreme economic policies towards immigrants which culminated in the building of a fence between Botswana and Zimbabwe. Around 2006, Zimbabweans destroyed the homes of foreign nationals (particularly Rwandans) and looted their shops on the ground that they were the masterminds behind the alleged ritual killings in the country.  Perhaps, the most persistent attacks have occurred in South Africa where xenophobic attacks have been a recurring decimal. The most recent being those of 2015 and 2019. In the ongoing attacks, the South Africans have blamed migrants for taking their jobs, their women and committing crimes. Resultantly, several deaths of many foreigners have been recorded. It is most interesting that many of these foreigners are of African descent.

Reports have shown that over 342 shops were looted and 213 shops burnt in the xenophobic attacks that happened on 11th May, 2008 in South Africa. The government’s implied support has frustrated the ability to obtain accurate statistics of those affected by the latest attacks. Xenophobia is a catalyst for chaos and disorderliness, as in Nigeria and Zambia, there have been riots and many shops looted in the reprisal attacks against South Africans, and businesses such as Shoprite and MTN had to close down temporarily, shops were set on fire and even government property; a police vehicle was set ablaze.

The importance of security to economic integration cannot be overemphasized as experience has shown that opening up borders for the free flow of goods and people under ECOWAS has played a large part in the security challenges faced by Nigeria in recent times following the inflow of migrants from neighboring countries such as Niger and Cameroon. From the incidence in South Africa it is clear that a full implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area without first addressing manifest underlying issues, particularly in xenophobia prone countries and areas will be the death of many businesses and their business owners.

The African Union has estimated that by 2020, the last phase of negotiations for the African Continental Free Trade Agreement will have finished and the African Continental Free Trade Area will be operative in at least 54 out of 55 African countries. Through the trade agreement, it is aimed that barriers to trade and services within the African continent are eliminated, cooperation in areas such as investment, technology transfer and innovation is achieved and more importantly, it is hoped that the Agreement will bring forth the much-anticipated economic pan Africanism. It is feared that ACFTA would be rendered toothless if underlying issues such as security, customs and effective immigration policies are not urgently addressed.

The potential impact xenophobia could have on the African Continental Free Trade Area is abysmal.  The most exigent being the grim effect on security of lives and businesses. This is perhaps the most important factor because people who execute these xenophobic attacks are in many instances violent and even ready to kill. No one wants to invest money into anything so risky that it looks like a death sentence. Prevalence of crimes like looting, vandalism, arson, unlawful riots and reprisal attacks are also some of the potential dangers xenophobia poses on the African Continental Free Trade Agreement.

Xenophobia has the potential of suffocating businesses that it makes business owners unable to repay loans. Apathy to goods from certain cultural groups in areas prone to xenophobia is doom for any foreign business owner and this is a hindrance in achieving the African Continental Free Trade Area. Xenophobia can lead to discriminatory policies by the government and discrimination against foreigners. In South Africa, leaders and even the police have been reported to participate and propagate xenophobic attacks. In its extreme, xenophobia could lead to a red line, genocide or a civil war.

If Africa is to negotiate favourably with the outside world whilst speaking collectively with one voice in the coming years, African leaders must rise up to the task of addressing the issues enumerated above rather than approving xenophobic sentiments through their body language. Worthy of note also is the fact the victims of xenophobia in Africa are not the ‘whites’ but the fellow ‘black’ men, perhaps, beyond xenophobia there is an underlining issue of afrophobia. Africans must also wake up to the realization of the fact that in this race to take Africa out of the dungeons of discord and poverty, every African must see a reflection of themselves in the next African. Afterall, I am because we are. Ubuntu!

Temitayo Fiki and Mohammed Adediji are lawyers practicing in Abuja. They can be reached on teefiki@gmail.com and adedijimohammed@yahoo.com respectively.