Fragmented Core

　　October 25 is Central African Regional Integration Day. Few people know or observe this holidaybecause the citizens of Africa’s poorest and mostconflict-prone region have little to celebrate.

　　The Organization of African Unity， the predecessorof the African Union (AU)， established the AfricanEconomic Community (AEC) when its member statessigned the Abuja Treaty in 1991. The AEC is based onthe premise that regional integration solves all mannerof ills： trade imbalances and barriers， social disunity，cross-border tensions and poor living standards. Nameit and regional integration will fix it.

　　In the places where it has happened， regional integrationhas helped kickstart moribund economies andenhance regional security. Not every region， however，can boast impressive results. Implementing neighborlyties is more difficult than the authors of the AbujaTreaty anticipated. Central Africa has barely implementedit at all. Without question， this is the continent’s leastcohesive region.

　　Central Africa lagging

　　“Central Africa is definitely lagging behind the rest ofthe continent when it comes to regional integration，especially compared to the EAC [East African Community]and SADC [Southern African DevelopmentCommunity]，” commented Chofor Che， a Cameroonianacademic and analyst for AfricanLiberty.org， a Lagosbasedthink-tank.

　　David Smith， Director of South Africa-based mediafirm Okapi Consulting and an expert on the region，offers a few examples of the area’s disunion. “If therewas any sort of integration with neighbors， therewould be daily flights between regional capitals，”he said. “There are not. There is no highway ofany note between them either.”

　　Instability forced the Central African Economicand Monetary Community (or CEMACfrom its French name)， one of Central Africa’stwo main regional organizations， to move itsheadquarters from Bangui， the capital of theCentral African Republic (CAR)， to Libreville，Gabon， last March. This relocation is an aptmetaphor for the failure of regional integrationitself， Smith observes. “CAR is a shell ofa state - a phantom administration [that] hasvirtually nothing to offer its citizens， evenless to offer the neighbors，” he said.

　　It was not always this bad. One of the first regionalorganizations established on the continent was CentralAfrican. Afrique équatoriale Fran？aise (French EquatorialAfrica)， formed in 1910， was a federation of France’sholdings in the area， comprising Cameroon， Chad， CAR，Gabon and the Republic of Congo. Post-independence，this close relationship continued under the CentralAfrican Economic and Customs Union (or UDEAC afterits French initials)， which in 1994 became the CEMAC，although only fully ratified in 1999.

　　The same five nations make up CEMAC today， withthe addition of Equatorial Guinea. Thanks to its effortsto implement free trade and visa-free areas， it remainsthe most progressive regional grouping in CentralAfrica， although it has another major competitor， theEconomic Community of Central African States (ECCAS)，which is much broader in geographical scope， ifnot necessarily in ambition. Although the two organizationsare ostensibly supposed to work together， inpractice communication between them is poor.The rival commissions are known to squabbleover who should take the lead on regional issues.

　　Overlapping functions

　　All six CEMAC countries are also part of thelarger 10-member ECCAS， with Angola，Burundi， Democratic Republic of Congo(DRC) and S？o Tomé and Príncipe. There issignificant overlap between the functionsand objectives of the two organizations.

　　Both CEMAC and ECCAS are working， intheory， toward the creation of a commonmarket； both attempt to rationalize customsand create a common trade policy towardthirdpartycountries，whichtheydesperatelyneed. (Intraregionaltradeaccounts for just1.2 percent of ECCASmember states’ exports，according to 2009 AfricanDevelopmentBank figures.)A thirdregionalorganization，theEconomicCommunity ofthe Great LakesCountries (or CEPGLafter its Frenchinitials)， is made upof Burundi， DRC and Rwanda and is primarilyfocused on post-conflict reconstruction.

　　This alphabet soup of regional organizations(and the various and separate environmental， businessand water management organizations that are notmentioned) is， of course， part of the problem： little tono coordination exists between them， despite repeatedpromises by heads of state and the commissions themselvesto rationalize the relationship between CEMACand ECCAS. “The region has an uncoordinated plan ofaction with several institutions like ECCAS and CEMACwith no well defined agenda，” Che said. “Memberstates are still suspicious of one another. For instance，Equatorial Guinea has a booming oil industry and fearsCameroonians will migrate massively to the countryand render their citizens jobless.”

　　For Che， the solution lies in consolidating the alphabetsoup and going slowly， with member states takingresponsibility for themselves before assuming regionalduties. “The region needs to merge ECCAS and CEMACand have well defined roles， especially who takescharge of curbing the conflict，” he said. “Member statesmust then curb custom duties and taxes within beforethinking of having a common market. Trade barriersbetween member states need to be dismantled.”

　　Smith agrees， again emphasizing that regional integrationis difficult as long as individual countries remainso weak. He also raises concerns about Central Africannations meddling in each other’s affairs， again usingCAR as an example： “[The Republic of Congo President]Denis Sassou-Nguesso， for reasons of his own， has beenpaying most of the bills of the CAR administration overthe past year， while [Chad President] Idriss Deby decidesfor the most part who is or isn’t in charge in Bangui - avery perverted sort of regional integration.”

　　Impediment to progress

　　Angela Meyer， a researcher with the Organization forInternational Dialogue and Conflict Management inVienna， is an expert on the issue， having written severalacademic papers on security and integration in theregion. She identifies seven impediments to progresswhen it comes to regional integration in Central Africa：the Central African states are， on the whole， exceedinglypoor， states regularly fail to pay their membershipdues， leaders lack political will to realize and implementjoint decisions， the region is unstable and conflictprone，states harbor widely divergent interests thanksto their heterogeneity， the two major regional organizations，ECCAS and CEMAC， compete to lead integration，with little clarity on who is ultimately responsible fordriving progress and a lead nation to drive the integrationagenda， in the mould of South Africa for SADC andNigeria for the Economic Community of West AfricanStates (ECOWAS)， is lacking.

　　None of the problems identified by Meyer are insurmountable.

　　Together， however， they form a dauntingbarrier to genuine integration. But all is not lost. CentralAfrica has a few things going in its favor， which couldone day provide a springboard for genuine， mutuallybeneficial unity. Its location， for one thing： as the onlyregion to border every other region， it is the crossroadsof Africa. It should be the hub linking most intra-continentaltrade.

　　Another is the single currency shared by the CEMACcountries， the Central African CFA franc， which is supportedby a single central bank (BEAC， the Banque desétats de l’Afrique Centrale). BEAC is also responsible forsetting monetary policy for all member countries. Thisputs the region ahead of its continental competitors：SADC and the EAC are a long way from implementingsingle currencies of their own. Nonetheless， neitherof the more advanced regional groups would acceptthe control that France continues to wield over thecurrency and the bank： the former colonial master demandsstoring 65 percent of BEAC’s foreign reserves ina French Treasury account. Indeed， weaning the regionoff its unhealthily dependent relationship with Francemay be one of the most important reasons why thearea needs to integrate properly.

　　Ultimately， the biggest problem for all the regionalorganizations with a presence in Central Africa - apartfrom their sheer number - is that a regional body can beonly as effective as the sum of its parts， i.e. its membercountries. In Central Africa， those parts do not add upto much.

　　“Yes， in unity there is strength， but there is muchto fix， or more correctly， create at home first，” Smithconcludes. It is hard to disagree.