ECAS 2013

No doubt, the African region is dire need of greater integration as a panacea to the numerous socio-economic and security challenges confronting the continent. This is based on the realization that regional development could easily be achieved through the collective efforts of all African states rather than individual basis of the states. This accounts for the desire of African leaders to eventually enthrone common market through the instrumentality of the African Union.

African Union has adopted a number of strategies to guarantee the attainment of its cardinal objectives. One of such strategies is the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). This strategy, with its diverse components, has existed for almost a decade now.

This paper, therefore, critically examines the instrument of NEPAD as a mechanism for enhancing regional integration in Africa by the African Union. It argues that the strategy of NEPAD has not significantly promoted socio-economic transformation in Africa

The African continent has become a continent in dire straits and encumbered by violent conflicts. The conflict in Darfur region of Western Sudan can be termed the worst humanitarian disaster ever witnessed in the continent having claimed over 200,000 lives with 2.5 million people rendered homeless. This study looked at the role of the African Union (AU) in resolving the Darfur conflict. The study is designed to explain the causes of the conflict in Darfur, study the framework for African Union conflict resolution in the continent and also examine the various mechanisms adopted by the Union towards the resolution of the conflict in Darfur. The study assumed that the conflict resulted from political and economic deprivation of the people of Darfur and that there is a co-relation between the African Union conflict resolution mechanisms and the current low level of violent conflict in Darfur. Methodologically, the study adopted qualitative design which invariably led to the sourcing of data through secondary sources. The theory of Relative Deprivation was adopted as a theoretical device for the work. Findings among others reveal that there is obvious denial of political and economic privileges to the people of Darfur by the Sudanese government which precipitated the violent conflict. The study recommended that there should be cohesion among the rebel groups, the deployment of robust peacekeeping troops with full mandate to protect civilian population.

The formation of regional blocs and groupings has increasingly become a prominent feature of world politics most especially since the end of the World War II in 1945. This is as a result of the fact that regional integration has proven to become a framework for development worldwide. Along the line of promoting mutual cooperation and integration in Africa, the OAU was established in 1963 which later metamorphosed to AU in 2002. AU faces several challenges in its endeavors to implement her integration and development agenda. This paper outlines these challenges in four broad categories, namely, peace and security, governance, economic and social issues. It raises the following questions: how well has African leaders taken bold initiatives towards the promotion of peace and security? To what extent has the NEPAD and the APRM promoted integration and development in Africa? The paper then discusses the important roles that the African Union (AU), Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and Member States should play in addressing the challenges. It concludes by positing that Africa's sustainable integration and development will not be achieved unless these challenges are addressed.

Keywords: Organization of African Unity, Africa Union, Regional Integration, NEPAD, Regional Economic Communities

The paper explores the response of African Union, AU in the recent Libyan uprising. It notes that though AU has in recent time recorded significant achievements, especially in the area of conflict resolution in Dafur region of Sudan, Cote d' Ivoire among others, it lacked cutting edge in managing effectively the Libyan uprising and was indecisive in relating with the National Transitional Council in Libya. This is because of the overarching influence of the United States, France and NATO-United Nations' backed offensive in Libya. Again, Gaddafi's meddlesomeness in the internal affairs of most African states which left him with little genuine friends among African leaders was implicated in AU's ineffectiveness, this, unmistakably gave rise to the discordant tones with which the African leaders spoke during the uprising in Libya. Data for the paper shall come largely from qualitative method. We shall rely mainly on secondary data sources with institutional and official materials incorporated. The paper is of the view that AU should devise appropriate mechanisms to handle crisis similar to the recent Libyan uprising and intervene proactively in crisis situations in Africa. This is relevant as one of the challenges facing AU is her inability to respond decisively to conflict situations which has retarded economic development and integration of the African continent.

This study explores the dynamics of mass media in fostering economics, cultural, political and social interactions among people and nations of Africa. The paper argues that for the continent to realize its ambition of regional integration, news contents must be designed by Africans for the African environment. In other words, Africa's media practitioners, and news managers, must cause a parading shift from the current western oriented information flow, to news patterns that are indigenous in nature.

The Lagos Plan of Action (LPA) of 1980, and the Abuja Treaty of 1991 etc, are some of the Laudable initiatives by African Leaders which the paper extols as steps in the right directions towards pursuing Africa's regional integration, but insists that unless the African people understand themselves and their history and destiny, as well as share their common problems through free flow of information, regional integration process will continue to suffer serious setbacks. It is in line with these thinking that the paper raises some questions which includes; in which ways could the mass media provide effective integration pattern through intra African information flow? What are the challenges of the media in African integration process?

Finally, the paper takes a look on the way forward to arrest the challenges of the media in African integration mechanism.

The paper examines the initiatives of the Pan African global governance institution - the African Union (AU)-explaining 'the African Union phenomenon'. Will examine Africa's own self-determined, international norms and values such as Pan Africanism, African Solutions for African Problems, Hybrid Democracy, Pax Africana, and the African Economic Community, to demonstrate that Africa - the world's least developed region- is constitutive of crucial values, institutions, agents, actors, and forces that are, through the continent's African Union, contributing to the advancement of contemporary global development. Using new Pan Africanist and constructivist international relations' theoretical frameworks in globalization studies, the paper examines the AU as a regional and intergovernmental organization as well as an emerging socio-economically integrated 'supra-state' actor that revives Pan Africanist ideology to wrestle for self-determined control of the Continent in a contemporary global governance arena that is hierarchical and marginalizes Africa to a bottom-tier. The paper presents an interesting alternative illustration of how, in the areas of cultural identity, democracy, security, and economic development, Africans - through the AU- infuse new politics, economics, and cultures into globalization representing the collective will and imprint of African agency, decisions, ideas, identities, practices and contexts. The paper concludes that Africa's AU is influencing regional and global impact which it achieves by resuscitating and cultivating a Pan African vision on behalf of Africans.

The formation of NAPAD by African leaders envisages its major agenda to be the eradication of bad governance, end to wars and the emancipation of Africa from poverty and non-sustainable growth development. Since its formation over a decade ago, discordant tones have been voiced out questioning its achievement so far, its potentials for accentuate development in Africa and the inherent constraints towards it low performance. The interrogation of these questions with a view to seeking answers to them and other issues in this context constitute the task of this discourse.

Since the independence of most African States, they

had individually and collectively applied many

development strategies to ensure the development of

their various countries. However, the adoption of the

New Partnership for Africa's Development {NEPAD} is the

beginning of development wisdom for Africa in the sense

that the strategy is the formulation of Africans by

themselves instead of a recommendation from without

Africa. It is an all- embracing strategy aimed at

addressing holistically, the development problem of

Africa.

This paper examines how the African Diasporas, with a view to

achieving sustainable development in Africa can strengthen the programme. The paper notes however, that Africans are good at policy

formulation but grossly deficient at policy

implementation. The New Partnership for Africa's

Development, NEPAD, is no doubt, a well articulated plan of

action for the achievement of sustainable development

and poverty reduction in Africa, but the problem

lies in the implementation and sustenance of the noble

objectives.

NEPAD being a call for a new relationship of

partnership between Africa and the international

community, especially the highly industrialized

countries to overcome the development chasm that has

widened over centuries of unequal relations, needs the

support, assistance and commitment of the African

Diasporas.

Pan-Africanism has played a leading role in raising the consciousness of African nationalists on the necessary and inevitable independence of Africa and the need for its economic and political unity (Demba, 1998:11). However, after having successfully withstood the test of time, Pan-Africanism has to adapt to new circumstances. The international environment that gave rise to Pan-Africanist consciousness has dramatically changed. From the spirit of Pan-Africanism, Africans and African governments have been in the forefront to come up with a United Africa where the dignity of its people would be upheld. The quest for this kind of Africa was initiated with the formation of the Organisation of African Union (OAU).This was later on followed by the African Union. A number of Africa leaders in the 21st century such as Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal and the late Muammar Gaddaffi took it upon themselves amid both economic and political challenges as well pressure from the New World Order and geopolitics to come up with a United States of Africa. The two African leaders are now out of the political scene. The paper seeks to answer the following questions: What are the regional political and economic challenges towards the realization of a United States of Africa, would the fall of dictatorial governments in the north and the ouster of Abdoulaye wade of Senegal in West Africa provide a solution to the realization of a united Africa, and what is the way forward.

As the continent with the highest number of existing conflicts, Africa must invest heavily in conflict prevention, resolution and management in order to move towards the desired goal of regional integration, political stability and economic growth. In this regard, the African Union (AU) provides a veritable platform, not only for the identification, resolution and management of potential and real cross-national conflicts, but also a framework for multilayer co-operation, partnerships and integration between governments and multinational actors across the continent.

This paper is an attempt to examine the role that the African Union is playing in the essential area of conflict management in Africa. To this end, the paper will focus on the identification of the causes of conflicts in Africa and on the assessment of AU's performance in the management and resolution of various conflicts, especially with a view to better capacity building and enhancement of the organization's extant capabilities. Specifically, this paper is of the opinion that indigenous conflict management techniques built upon traditional communication systems should be incorporated in a new approach to conflict management, if the African Union is desirous of making meaningful impact on regional peace and security.

In our rapidly changing world, even local conflicts now assume international dimensions and the relevance of international organizations and transnational corporations in finding lasting solutions to conflicts is becoming pervasive and undeniable. This paper is intended to serve as a contribution to the growing search for viable and effective means of conflict resolution and management, especially in Africa.