Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir extended his defiance of the International Criminal Court arrest warrant to Kigali, Rwanda where he travelled to sign the attend the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

Sudan joined forty three other African nations which signed the AfCFTA aimed at paving the way for a liberalized market for goods and services across the continent.

The AfCFTA is one of the flagship projects of Agenda 2063 and aims to deepen the integration process, by allowing Africans to trade and move freely across the continent.

President Bashir is under two International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrants since 2008 for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes allegedly committed in Darfur.

The Sudanese president has however visited several African states that are members of the ICC including Uganda, Egypt and Rwanda but he was not arrested.

Rwanda is not a state party to the tribunal of war crimes but has the obligation as a member of the United Nations to cooperate with the court. However, like many other African capitals, Kigali is critical to ICC and to its focus on Africa.

In December, last year, Rwanda’s president Paul Kagame held talks with Bashir in Khartoum and the two leaders agreed to jointly fight the ICC, accusing it of bias against African leaders.

Kagame, who is the African Union chairperson, stressed that the continent’s position was against the ICC, stating that the continent’s leaders were victims of its biased justice.

The ICC recently warned that it would refer Jordan to the U.N. Security Council for failing to arrest Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir when he visited Amman in March last year.

South Africa is the only country where Bashir was troubled as a local human rights group lodged an application in court challenging the country’s failure to arrest a ‘war criminal’ despite the ICC obligations.

He eventually left the country before the end of the African Union summit he was attending, disregarding a court order that would have seen his detained and handed over to the ICC.</s>Image copyright Getty Images Image caption It is hoped the deal will boost low levels of manufacturing in Africa

The leaders of 44 African countries have signed a deal to create one of the world's largest free trade blocs.

The agreement was signed at a summit in the Rwandan capital, Kigali.

It is hoped the deal will come into force within six months, and increase prosperity for 1.2 billion Africans.

But 10 countries, including Nigeria, have refused to sign the deal, and it will need to be ratified by all the signatories' national parliaments before the bloc becomes a reality.

The African Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) would remove barriers to trade, like tariffs and import quotas, allowing the free flow of goods and services between its members.

In theory that should boost commerce, growth and employment.

African Union commission head Moussa Faki Mahamat called it a "glorious challenge... which calls for the courage to believe, the courage to dare... the courage to achieve".

He then recognised that to succeed the countries will "need to summon the required political will".

An EU for Africa?

Trade between African countries is relatively low. It accounts for only 10% of all commerce on the continent - compared with 25% in south-east Asia - according to news agency Reuters.

Once the free trade area is established, the ambition is to take further steps that echo the creation of the European Union - like a customs union, a common market, and even a single currency, says Matthew Davies, editor of the BBC's Africa Business Report.

He says many obstacles still have to be overcome.

One is the relatively low level of manufacturing that takes place on a continent where trade often means selling raw materials to the outside world.

Another is getting Africa's largest economy, Nigeria, on board. President Muhammadu Buhari pulled out of the summit, after "certain key stakeholders" - thought to mean trade unions and businesses - complained they had not been consulted.

The African Union said it hoped those countries with reservations would be persuaded to sign at a later date.</s>Zambia is among the forty-four other African Countries that have welcomed the establishment of an African Continental Free Trade Area (ACFTA) meant to create One African Market.

The development was reached at during the 10th Extraordinary Heads of States and Government Summit in Kigali, Rwanda that was called by African Union Chairperson Paul Kagame.

Foreign Affairs Minister Joseph Malanji who represented President Edgar Lungu at the summit signed the African Free Trade Area Declaration and not the Agreement.

Mr. Malanji stated that Zambia has not signed the agreement on ACFTA because negotiations on some of the protocols of the agreement are still on going.

He pointed out that Zambia had negotiated the protocol on goods, and services and the dispute settlement mechanism.

Mr. Malanji said the remaining protocols that included trade competition, Investment and the intellectual property are yet to be negotiated.

He however, noted that the signing of the declaration shows that Zambia stands with all other African Nations in its quest to improve intra Africa Trade.

Meanwhile, Commerce, Trade and Industry Minister Christopher Yaluma said Zambia will not sign the protocol on the free Movement of People.

In a statement issued to ZANIS in Lusaka this evening by First Secretary for Press and Tourism at the Zambian Embassy in Ethiopia, Inutu Mwanza, Mr. Yaluma who also attended the summit said Zambia is not ready for such a protocol.

On the ACFTA, Mr. Yaluma explained that Zambia needed to undertake internal consultations with the business community and other stakeholders before signing the Agreement.

He indicated that Government will only engage in treaties that have a positive bearing on the Zambian people especially the youth and women.

And officially opening the summit, Rwandan President Paul Kagame who is also African Union President noted that time has come for Africa to boost its own trade.

General Kagame said the African Continental Free Trade Area is a sure way of economic prosperity and urged member states to ratify the Agreement.

He further stated that the ACFTA will bring job creation particularly among the youths.</s>'The agreement establishing the CFTA (African Continental Free Trade Area) was signed by 44 countries,' says Moussa Faki Mahamat, chairperson of the AU commission

KIGALI, Rwanda – Forty-four African countries have signed an agreement establishing a free trade area seen as vital to the continent's economic development, the head of the African Union said Wednesday, March 21.

"The agreement establishing the CFTA (African Continental Free Trade Area) was signed by 44 countries," said Moussa Faki Mahamat, chairperson of the AU commission.

The creation of a free trade area – billed as the world's largest – comes after two years of negotiations, and is one of the AU's flagship projects for greater African integration.

However, the agreement will still have to be ratified at a national level, and is only due to come into force in 180 days.

The full list of countries which did not sign the agreement is not yet available, however Nigeria is a notable absentee after President Muhammadu Buhari pulled out of this week's launch in Rwanda saying he needed more time for consultations at home.

Nigeria, one of Africa's largest markets, hesitated after objections from business leaders and unions -- a sign that getting the deal through scores of national parliaments may face several hurdles.

"Some countries have reservations and have not finalised their national consultations. But we shall have another summit in Mauritania in July where we expect countries with reservations to also sign," said Albert Muchanga, the AU Commissioner for Trade and Industry. – Rappler.com</s>JOHANNESBURG - Heads of state in the African Union will on Wednesday sign the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement.

Presidents, prime ministers, high-level officials and private-sector stakeholders are all in Rwanda’s capital of Kigali for the AU's 10th extraordinary summit of the heads of state and government.

President Cyril Ramaphosa is there with International Relations Minister Lindiwe Sisulu and Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies.

Ramaphosa says that the proposed single currency matching one on one with the dollar will make trade easier on the continent.

"For really good trade to take place on the continent, you need to know that you can trade effectively and trade profitably and utilise a currency that you can use right across the continent. And maybe setting up thhis free trade area, we need to have an African currency."</s>President Cyril Ramaphosa is joining other African leaders for the inauguration of what is billed as the world’s largest free-trade zone, due to take place on Wednesday, when heads of state in the African Union (AU) sign the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement.

Presidents, prime ministers, high-level officials and private-sector stakeholders are all in Rwanda’s capital for the AU’s 10th extraordinary summit of the heads of state and government. The meeting includes a business summit of panel discussions to be held on Tuesday under the theme, "Leveraging the power of business to drive Africa’s integration".

The AfCFTA looks to facilitate the free movement of goods and services as a precursor to the establishment of the African Customs Union. It features a host of measures and institutional frameworks to foster intra-Africa trade through the elimination of tariffs, the harmonisation of customs protocols, and the development of regional supply chains.

"AfCFTA will make Africa one of the largest economies in the world and enhance its capacity to interact on equal terms with other international economic blocs," commented AU Commission chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat.

The AU’s executive council met over the weekend to finalise the legal and institutional frameworks for the free-trade zone, including a dispute settlement mechanism and protocols pertaining to the liberalisation of 90% of goods in the customs union.

About 46 countries are expected to sign on, comprising 29 presidents and 17 vice-presidents as signatories. Ramaphosa is expected to be in Kigali, along with International Relations and Co-operation Minister Lindiwe Sisulu, the Department of Trade and Industry’s Rob Davies, and his deputy Gratitude Magwanishe.

After Wednesday’s signing, phase two of the negotiations will kick off towards the end of 2018 and will entail thrashing out the details of investment requirements, rules of services trading, competition, and intellectual property rights.

The AfCFTA will be the second flagship project signed this year after the Single Air Transport Market, and forms part of the body’s larger continental economic integration plan enshrined in the AU’s developmental Agenda 2063.

The free-trade zone will span all the AU’s 54 member states, comprising 1.2-billion people and a combined GDP of $3.4-trillion. Intra-Africa trade accounts for a mere 16% of the continent’s total trade, compared to more than 70% of intra-regional trade seen in Europe.

The UN’s Economic Commission for Africa reckons that eliminating import duties alone could see AfCFTA boosting intra-continental trade by 52.3%.

Implementation of AfCFTA will go hand in hand with the union’s action plan on Boosting Intra-Africa Trade (BIAT), which aims to double trade flows by 2022.</s>African countries are set to put their signature to an agreement that will launch the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in Kigali, Rwanda, on Wednesday.

The UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) has estimated the agreement's implementation could increase intra-African trade by 52 percent by 2022, compared with trade levels in 2010.

Here's what you need to know about the biggest trade agreement signed since the World Trade Organisation (WTO) was established.

African heads of government agreed to establish a continental free trade area in 2012 and started negotiations in 2015.

The agreement is set to be signed by all 55 member states of the African Union, bringing together 1.2 billion people with a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of more than $2 trillion.

The draft agreement commits countries to removing tariffs on 90 percent of goods, with 10 percent of "sensitive items" to be phased in later.

The agreement will also liberalise services and aims to tackle so-called "non-tariff barriers" which hamper trade between African countries, such as long delays at the border.

Eventually, free movement of people and even a single currency could become part of the free trade area.

By creating a single continental market for goods and services, the member states of the African Union hope to boost trade between African countries.

Intra-African trade is relatively limited; UNCTAD, the main UN body dealing with trade, said it made up only 10.2 percent of the continent's total trade in 2010.

David Luke, coordinator of the African Trade Policy Centre at UNECA, hopes the free trade area will correct this "historical anomaly".

"Colonialism created a situation where neighbours stopped trading with each other. The main trading route was between African countries and European countries and between African countries and the US," he told Al Jazeera.

Removing barriers to trade is expected to not just grow trade within Africa, Luke said, but also grow "the kind of trade this continent needs".

Between 2010 and 2015, fuels represented more than half of Africa's exports to non-African countries, while manufactured goods made up only 18 percent of exports to the rest of the world, a UNECA report said.

Within Africa, 43 percent of goods traded are manufactured products.

Commodity prices are volatile, making economies that rely on their export vulnerable. Moreover, Luke said, the export of commodities tends to be capital- rather than labour-intensive.

"When you have this kind of economy, your young people cannot find jobs. And when they cannot find jobs, you see them trying to get to Europe and drowning in the Mediterranean," Luke said.

"If you are making the basic things that everybody consumes, then you are creating jobs."

Luke hopes the free trade area will also make Africa more competitive outwardly.

"If you can move further up the supply chain, you are better placed in a global context as well," he said.

What are the challenges?

On Sunday, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari cancelled his attendance at the signing ceremony. A statement said the decision was made "to allow time for broader consultations".

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) had warned Buhari against signing the agreement, calling it a "renewed, extremely dangerous and radioactive neo-liberal policy initiative".

Nigeria's sudden stalling signals that not everybody is satisfied individual countries will be better off under the deal.

A research paper by UNCTAD concedes that elimination of all tariffs between African countries would take an annual $4.1bn out of the trading states' coffers, but would create an overall annual welfare gain of $16.1bn in the long run.

But there are fears that the benefits of the free trade area could be unevenly distributed.

Sylvester Bagooroo, a programme officer at Third World Network Africa, thinks the treaty focusses too much on cutting tariffs, without sufficient consideration of the varying production capabilities of African countries.

Africa's most advanced countries are at an advantage with their more strongly developed manufacturing capabilities. Allowing them to sell their goods and services to the continent's less developed countries could undercut industrial development there.

"If you don't build on productive capacities, when you liberalise you are only going to be trading imported goods across Africa, and that will be a big blow to domestic manufacturing across the continent," Bagooroo said.

"We need to pay attention to the big economies against the small economies. We need to pay attention to the dominant sectors against the weaker sectors."

Eyerusalem Siba, a research fellow at the Brookings Institution's Africa Growth Initiative, is concerned with the domestic policies "which need to be in place to assist workers and also businesses when competition increases".

Governments will need to develop a more skilled workforce adaptable to the demands of globalisation and at the same time create social policies for those who will lose jobs due to increased competition, Siba said.

"Competition tends to have a detrimental impact on wages in low-cost jobs, so countries need to think about how they're going to address that situation.

"At the same time countries which are already connected to the global economy may benefit from integration, while others have to wait for the benefits to trickle down."

"It’s a good idea to integrate eventually, but are we ready for it? Not every expert I have spoken with agrees with it," she concludes.

The text to be signed on March 21 contains the legal framework for the free trade area, which will then need to be ratified by the individual countries through their respective domestic processes.

AfCFTA will come into force after it has been ratified by either 15 or 22 countries - a number that has yet to be agreed on.

A second phase of negotiations will be held later to cover investment, competition policy and intellectual property.

There are other details that still need to be ironed out; countries will need to submit which products they consider "sensitive", thus exempting them from the tariff cut for now, for example. And the African Union Commission will need to establish a secretariat to preside over the agreement.

Still, UNECA's Luke is hopeful African countries will move "very quickly".

"This is something that the Africans have said they want to do for themselves. It's not the World Bank; it's not the IMF, it's not anybody saying 'You better do this or we'll withhold something from you'. This is something that they voluntarily wanted to do.

"We do expect that they would want to get this treaty up and running as quickly as possible," Luke said.</s>In an elaborate ceremony in the beehive-shaped Kigali Convention Centre, 44 African Union member states signed an agreement on an African free trade area. President Cyril Ramaphosa is confident Africa will unite, even though the continent’s two biggest economies, South Africa and Nigeria, still had to come on board. By CARIEN DU PLESSIS.

Much was made of Africa’s “historic moment” – second only, it was said, to the founding of the Organisation of African Unity 55 years ago.

Master of ceremonies, former BBC journalist Mark Eddo, kept up the enthusiastic refrain:

“Change is in the air, I can feel it!”

Such was the hype that real information was at times difficult to find. For instance, there was no clear announcement on which agreement a country was signing if they weren’t signing all three – the Protocol on the Free Movement of People (across Africa), the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement, or the opt-out-for-now-but-still-committed-to-it Kigali Declaration. An accurate list of which country signed what was also still elusive.

South Africa, as it turned out, signed only the Kigali Declaration, with 42 other African Union states, although at some point some communicators from the Rwandan side, as well as a list of signatories, said South Africa did sign all three.

Forty-four states signed the actual agreement, aimed at improving trade between African countries, while 27 signed the Protocol on the Free Movement of People.

Both of these were flagship projects of the AU’s long-term plan, Agenda 2063, introduced at the AU under the leadership of Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma.

Rwanda, which hosted the extraordinary summit, went to great lengths to make it happen in the year when its president Paul Kagame is chairing the African Union. The Rwandan government paid for presidential suites in Kigali hotels for the heads of state attending, and along with each, seven rooms for work and for people in the presidential entourage, and five official cars. And the city’s main routes were all closed for the occasion. (This meant Rwandans were late for work, and ordinary people who had to get to the summit were subjected to interesting excursions on the untarred back roads in the parts of Kigali yet to be developed.)

A group of journalists, including this Daily Maverick reporter, was hosted by the Rwandan government in the three-star The Mirror Hotel, not far from the conference venue.

It’s a big investment, and Rwanda wanted to make it work. Kagame, after all, has a reputation to uphold as a no-nonsense business-minded president.

There were some hauntingly beautiful moments, like when the choir of Rwanda’s first music school, the Nyundi School of Art, sang Asimbonanga as the Sahrawi Republic head of state stepped up to sign, but there were also schedules that weren’t quite adhered to, partly due to the length of the presidential caucus first thing in the morning, and then to the length of the signing ceremony (it started with a commitment by 30-something countries, but in the course of the day grew to 40-something). By the time of the closing at 16:30, some presidents, like Cyril Ramaphosa, had already had to leave to wrap up and catch their flights.

Ramaphosa did, however, grant a 30 minute-interview for the handful of South African journalists (and not just to the SABC, as his predecessor did in especially his second term).

In a hotel room next to his suite at Kigali’s Marriott Hotel, Ramaphosa explained that South Africa supported the free trade area ideals.

“All that holds us back from signing the actual agreement is our own consultation processes,” he said.

“We still need … to consult in Cabinet, to consult our various partners at Nedlac (the forum for government, labour and business), but also to finally consult with our parliamentarians, so we are really just going through what you would call the ‘clean-up process’. Everybody’s on board at home, so as far as we are concerned, we are part of this.”

Nigeria, whose president Muhammadu Buhari had to turn back on his way to the airport because of objections from business groups, didn’t sign the agreement either. Nigeria, too, needed to go through an internal consultation process, said Ramaphosa. The agreement wasn’t dead in the water at all.

In fact, Ramaphosa even has a vision for a single African currency as an ultimate outcome of a free trade area, something he floated at a business forum as part of the summit on Tuesday.

Some businesspeople even suggested something similar to Bitcoin at that forum.

“Africa is developing in a wonderful way, further on this economic journey, and we will be beginning to interface with the notion and the idea of a single currency,” Ramaphosa said.

“Some even suggested a digital currency, and it is possible that a digital currency will even precede a real single currency because it is easier done.”

Even though South Africa still has a lot of hurdles to overcome in terms of open borders, Ramaphosa wanted this changed too. Our African sisters and brothers are forever complaining about the strict rules and the intransigent visa bureaucracy.

Ramaphosa met with Kagame on arrival in Kigali on Tuesday, and they talked about making it easier for Rwandan citizens to get visas. The South African visa office in Kigali was closed in 2014 after a spat between the countries over the murder of an opposition leader in South Africa.

Ramaphosa, surprisingly, revealed in Wednesday’s interview that the visa issue was bigger than just Rwanda.

“There is a deep yearning in Rwanda and the region for this visa matter to be resolved, and we need to open up the borders of our country and allow people to move,” he said.

Under the free trade accord, it should be easier for businesspeople to move around on the continent, he said.

Other countries, like Rwanda, could come to do business in South Africa and vice versa, “because when they come, they come with money”, he said.

“They bring dollars to come and invest in South Africa.”

Movement of people across borders “does not only mean people are coming to South Africa to take our people’s jobs”, he said.

“It also needs to be seen in another dimension, that we are sending companies here (to Rwanda) to do business, to trade and to learn new skills. And as it is now, Rwanda has a lot to teach us. They have developed so quickly and got out of the total disaster they had 20 years ago and they are a completely transformed country,” he said, with reference to Rwanda’s genocide in 1994.

He said the movement of people should be looked at “in a positive sense that people, as they move, (have) got something to contribute. And similarly, when we move as South Africans, we move to other countries, we know that we have something to contribute, so let’s treat them like we want to be treated.”

Some analysts say it could take another 10 years after the signing of the agreement – phase one out of six phases – for continental free trade to become a reality.

After the signing, 22 countries had to ratify the agreement – meaning they had to go through domestic parliamentary processes – for it to come into force.

At least it seems South Africa, headed by New Broom Ramaphosa, is at least on track to phase one. DM

Photo: President Cyril Ramaphosa signs the Kigali Declaration on the establishment of the African Continental Free Trade Area at the 10th Extraordinary Summit of the Assembly of the African Union in Kigali, Rwanda, 21 March 2018. (GCIS)</s>Forty-four African countries have signed up to a historic trade agreement aimed at paving the way for a liberalized market for goods and services across the continent.

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), an agreement cast in the mold of the European Union’s version was signed during the 10th Ordinary Session of African Union Heads of State summit held in the Rwandan capital, Kigali.

The AfCFTA gives birth to the world’s largest free trade area since the World Trade Organization which was formed in 1995. A total of nineteen presidents were present whiles a number of Prime Ministers and government representatives also signed for their respective countries.

In remarks on Tuesday during deliberations, host and current African Union (A.U.) president, Paul Kagame said: “This agreement is about trade in goods and services. These are the kinds of complex products that drive high income economies.”

Under the theme: “Creating One African Market,” the initiative falls under the Agenda 2063 of the A.U. According to estimates, if all 55 members states of the AU ratify it, the agreement will bring together 1.2 billion people with a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of more than 2 trillion US Dollars.

The failure to attend by Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari who leads Africa’s largest economy and Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni had analysts worried. Ugandan Foreign Affairs minister attended and signed. Nigeria did not sign.

Analysts say Buhari may have caved under pressure from local labour unions and big corporations who have opposed the treaty saying it would harm the local economy

“If Nigeria does not join, it will have an impact definitely. Nigeria is 190 million population country, it’s a large economy. So we hope that Nigeria will not pull out of it.

“Nigeria had already been part of the process of building it, we think it’s just maybe one step back that they are taking to review,” Alpha Sy, an analyst said.</s>Leaders from 44 African countries on Wednesday signed an agreement to form a $2.5 trillion continental free-trade zone, but Nigeria was absent.

The free-trade zone is the largest in the world since the creation of the World Trade Organisation in 1995.

Deliberations on the free-trade zone begun in 2015 and was originally projected to capture 55 countries.

At the African Union summit in Kigali, Rwanda, Paul Kagame, host president, declared the meeting a success after initial negotiations were concluded.

President Muhammadu Buhari had been initially scheduled to attend the summit and sign the agreement after the federal executive council gave its approval at its March 14 meeting.

The trip was cancelled on Sunday, March 18 and the presidency did not give a reason for the development.
The leaders of 44 African Union states sign an agreement in Kigali, Rwanda, to create the African Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA).