1 The Yearbook on the African Union
Since its establishment in 2002, the African Union (AU), as successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU, founded in 1963), has become the centre of organising essential policy fields on behalf of its 55 member states.1 In the last twenty years, the Union has also fulfilled a key function in negotiating roles and responsibilities between itself and the eight officially recognised Regional Economic Communities (REC s).2 Furthermore, the Union has managed to establish itself as a major actor in global affairs and interlocutor between member states, on the one hand, and the United Nations (UN) and the European Union (EU), on the other. The Union is also highly relevant for developing strategic partnerships with China, India, Japan, South Korea, and Turkey. Overall, and more analytically speaking, the Union has become the main African actor for organising a specific globalisation project, that is to say, a way of integrating the continent into the current global condition but at the same time also trying to change this condition (see Engel 2022b, 2023).
So far, however, the various activities of the Union have not been systematically documented, neither by itself nor by academic institutions or research projects. The Yearbook on the African Union (YBAU) was launched in 2021 exactly with this explicit aim of providing accessible, reliable, and contextualised information on the AU’s evolution and activities. To this end, the Yearbook, and its authors, acknowledges and respects the cumbersome processes of institutionalisation, professionalisation, and communitarisation taking place at the seat of the continental body in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia).
Of course, a number of very helpful open sources are already available. The decisions of the AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government (AU Assembly), the AU Executive Council (AU Council), and the AU Peace and Security Council (AU PSC) are all published online.3 Substantial information is also provided through the Annual Report on the Activities of the African Union and its Organs – however, the latest report only covers the year 2019 (AU Council 2020a). And regarding the implementation of Agenda 2063 (AU Assembly 2013), which guides the AU’s long-term activities, the AU Development Agency (AUDA–NEPAD) has started publishing a Continental Report on the Implementation of Agenda 2063 (AUDA 2020, 2022).4
In addition, since 2014, there is also the laudable joint initiative by the AU Commission (AUC) and the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade to publish an African Union Handbook (see AUC and MFAT 2021). The handbook provides factual overviews as well as detailed information on memberships, offices, and institutions – but not on policies. In contrast, the Yearbook on the African Union aims at providing detailed and contextualised information on the development of important policy fields. Its aspiration is to be both documenting and analytical. In addition to the handbook, since 2016 the AU’s Directorate of Information and Communication has been publishing AU ECHO, which has become an interesting and informative annual magazine around core Union policies (African Union 2021a).
2 The Yearbook’s Approach
Worth noting, is that the present volume is not the Yearbook OF the African Union, but a Yearbook ON the African Union. It cannot be emphasised strongly
In terms of the methodological background, up to a certain point we do so from a shared perspective of historical institutionalism and organisational sociology. Thus, we nurture the development of an understanding of the various interests playing out in the AU in a historical perspective and of the dynamics between its actors and within particular institutions. And we also take an interest in the impact these activities have (had) in global politics. The approach is inductive, rather than deductive. The Yearbook is not guided by a specific theory but interested in what actually is happening in the corridors of the AU and beyond – some would call this a ‘perspective of practice’.
Against this background, the target audience of the Yearbook on the African Union is considered to be broad and diverse. It ranges from fellow academics as well as journalists, both based on the continent and abroad, who are covering the AU and related policies on a regular basis to post-graduates of various kinds who are making their first steps into the orbit of this exciting institution and who may need some guidance. But we also hope that the very people working in the institution and the REC s as well as their ‘international partners’, that is to say, members of the donor community, may consider this publication to be of some value for their own work.
3 Features of the Yearbook
The Yearbook on the African Union comprises four parts: (1) the Year-in-Review, (2) chapters on AU policy fields, (3) book reviews, and (4) three appendices. In the first part, the Yearbook opens with three pieces: The Annual Interview on the African Union, an overview on The State of the Union, and a reflection on the role of the Union’s chairperson. The rationale for the interview is to discuss in an in-depth manner a topic that has dominated Union debates and activities in the previous year by reflecting upon it with a key actor. Deliberately, The Annual Interview does not follow the Union’s ‘Theme of the Year’, which in 2021 was ‘Arts, Culture and Heritage: Levers for Building the Africa We Want’ (see AU Council 2020b; see also Ulf Engel, this Yearbook, chapter 5).
The following chapter, The State of the Union, is designed as a discussion of important internal developments of the AU as an institution. The AU itself is
The third chapter focuses on the activities of the AU chairperson. In accordance with Article 6 (4) of the 2000 Constitutive Act of the African Union (OAU 2000: §6[4]), the ‘Chairman of the Assembly’ is ‘elected after consultations among the Member States’. In contrast to the powers and functions of the AU Assembly and that of the chairperson of the AUC, the role of the chairperson of the Union is not detailed in the Constitutive Act. It was only with the 2003 Rules of Procedure for the Assembly (African Union 2003a: §16) as well as the 2003 Protocol on Amendments to the Constitutive Act of the African Union (African Union 2003b: §7) that the – fairly limited – procedural and managerial functions of the chairperson were detailed. This makes it a very interesting office that has been carried out in varying ways since its establishment. In February 2021, Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) president Félix Antoine Tshisekedi took over this position for a 12-month period. In this chapter, the aims, activities, and achievements of the chair for the year 2021 are reviewed.
But first and foremost, the Yearbook on the African Union aims to review major developments in key policy fields of the continental body that took place in the calendar year of 2021. With an interest in the historicity of the institution, these policy fields do not necessarily mirror 1:1 the up-to-the-minute policy priorities of the Union but rather investigates policy fields that have emerged and are being developed over a longer period. So, longue durée trumps ‘discourses of newness’. Over the coming years, this approach hopefully also makes the Union’s policies more commensurable across time. Embedded in its long-term guiding Agenda 2063 policy (AU Assembly 2013), the continental body is currently pursuing 15 so-called flagship projects (African Union 2022b).5 In addition, on a day-to-day basis the Union is prioritising activities
However, by looking into the history of the organisation, more long-term priorities can be identified. Based on an analysis of all the decisions taken by the OAU and AU Assemblies, Executive Councils, as well as the PSC between 1963 and today (see Engel 2022a), eight key policy fields have been identified. Over the years, they may have been framed in different ways, but these policy fields are the substantive issues the Union has been dealing with. These policy fields are at the heart of the second part of the Yearbook. In alphabetical order, they are (1) education, science, and technology, (2) governance, (3) health, (4) infrastructure, (5) peace and security, (6) regional integration and trade, (7) strategic partnerships, and, last but certainly not least, (8) women and youth. In time, other topics may develop into fully fledged policy fields – climate change is an obvious candidate.
The first edition of the Yearbook featured a chapter on ‘development’ (Melber 2021). Its focus was on the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), and the transfer of NEPAD into the AU Development Agency. Among others, Henning Melber concluded that although these institutions and practices ‘play essential roles in the cross-cutting discourse on development in an African continental perspective’, in practice they are ‘of limited relevance’: The ‘efforts taken … have not yet had a direct impact on regional or local levels’ (ibid., 62). And for 2021, nothing substantial can be reported on the further development of NEPAD etc., save for the fact that the term of chief executive officer, Dr Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, has been extended until a new head of the mechanism is recruited (African Union 2021c, §1).7
Also, in the first edition of the Yearbook, there was a need to establish some sort of baselines for the chapters on policy fields. Thus, contributors were asked not only to review the dynamics of the previous year, but also to provide as much background information as necessary to guide the reader through the respective policy field. The character of the chapters in part 2, therefore, will progressively change over time.
Third, the Yearbook also contains a book review section. It is edited by Katharina P.W. Döring (Södertörn University, Stockholm) and Jens Herpolsheimer (Leipzig University). The aim of this section is to critically highlight important academic contributions that were published in the respective year under review (i.e. 2021) to the debate on the AU, the REC s, and their entanglements in continental and global politics.
And fourth, the Yearbook provides a service section. It comprises three appendices: a chronicle of key events, an index of key AU decisions, and an overview on selected office holders. The chronicle very briefly develops a timeline of the most important meetings and other key events. The index contains all decisions documented and available online by the AU Assembly, the AU Executive Council, the AU/REC Mid-Year Coordination Meeting (MYCM), and the AU PSC. Unlike the UN, the AU does not provide an index function on its website. Usually, the AU Assembly takes about 40 to 50 decisions at the annual gathering, and the PSC roughly meets 35 times a year. In addition, there is an equal number of decisions taken by the AU Executive Council and the AU/REC MYCM. The index is meant to provide quick guidance and access to those important AU documents that are in the public domain (needless to say, there are, undeniably, many more documents available on the websites of the Union and its various entities). The overview on key office holders provides information on the chairperson of the AU, the chairperson of the AUC and the commissioners, the countries serving on the PSC, and the members of the Panel of the Wise.
4 Structure of the 2021 Yearbook
The first part of the Yearbook on the African Union, the Year-in-Review, features The Annual Interview, a chapter on The State of the Union, and a contribution
Part 2 of the Yearbook is made up of eight topical chapters that highlight dynamics in the Union’s substantive policy fields. In chapter 5, Ulf Engel reviews dynamics in the field of education, science, and technology. Among others, this chapter investigates several strategies that are meant to support the establishment of knowledge societies on the continent; it also highlights the challenges of developing a (?) post-colonial and ‘truly’ African knowledge order.
In chapter 6, Annie Chikwanha (University of Johannesburg) looks at the implementation of the African Governance Architecture (AGA), which is based on the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance (ACDEG). The African Charter was adopted in 2007 and became operational in 2012. The author takes stock of the implementation of the agenda in terms of the domestication of human rights and democracy standards and, to this end, the transformation of the practices of AU member states. Discussing the merger in 2021 of the AU departments in charge of political affairs, on the one hand, and peace and security, on the other, this chapter also delves into some of the institutional questions facing the AU.
In chapter 7, Habibu Yaya Bappah (Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria & ECOWAS) and Edefe Ojomo (University of Lagos) dissect the broader context of the development of AU health governance. Despite the on-going Covid-19 pandemic, other diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, HIV/Aids, and Ebola continue to test the limits of Africa’s public health policies.
In chapter 8, Tim Zajontz (Freiburg University) scrutinises the development of infrastructure as one of the pillars of the AU’s continental development agenda. Specifically, this chapter recalls the progress made regarding the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA), which is a strategic framework for developing continental (cross-border) infrastructures, such as energy, transport, information, and communication technologies, as well as transboundary water resources.
Preventing, managing, and resolving peace and security issues remains the biggest challenge for the AU, as clearly demonstrated by the current rise
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA) was formally launched on 1 January 2021. With 54 member states, it is the largest trading bloc in the world. It has certainly generated new dynamics across the continent in the area of regional integration and trade. In chapter 10, Bruce Byiers (European Centre for Development Policy Management, Maastricht) analyses the effects of harmonising African policies on trade in goods and in services, investment, intellectual property rights, competition, and dispute settlement in a global context. He also looks at how this project relates to the regional integration policies of the eight REC s officially recognised by the AU as partners.
In chapter 11, the development of the Union’s strategic partnerships is explored. The focus is on the three multilateral partnerships the Union maintains with the Arab League, the European Union, and the United Nations, respectively, as well as five bilateral partnerships with China, India, Japan, South Korea, and Turkey. It seems that there is an unwritten rule that each year there must be at least one force majeure when it comes to the authors of the Yearbook on the African Union. This time it affected the chapter on strategic partnerships. The author initially foreseen could not commit in time, thus I ended up writing the chapter myself.
And, finally, in chapter 12 Awino Okech (School of Oriental and African Studies, London) takes a closer look at the practices unfolding within the AU since the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) on women and children in violent conflict as well as on the role of women and youth in conflict prevention, management, and resolution. The chapter also delves into recent complementary dynamics in the fields of youth and peace and security.
The Book Review section makes up the third part of the Yearbook. Katharina P.W. Döring and Jens Herpolsheimer have selected a range of interesting new (2021) publications that are likely to advance the field of the study of the AU and the REC s. In this volume of the Yearbook, two monographs and four edited volumes have been chosen for closer inspection. As a reader, or an author,
References
Sources
African Union 2003a. Rules of Procedure for the Assembly and the Executive Council, Statutes of the Commission and Rule of Procedure for the Permanent Representative Council. Addis Ababa: African Union.
African Union 2003b. Protocol on Amendments to the Constitutive Act of the African Union. Addis Ababa. African Union.
African Union 2021a. ‘AU ECHO. 2021 Annual Magazine’. Addis Ababa: AU Directorate of Information and Communication.
African Union 2021b. ‘Flagship Projects of Agenda 2063’. Addis Ababa: African Union. URL: <https://au.int/en/agenda2063/flagship-projects> (accessed: 30 June 2022).
African Union 2021c. ‘Decision on the African Union Development Agency–New Partnership for Africa’s Development (AUDA–NEPAD) Heads of State and Government Orientation Committee (HSGOC)’. Adopted at the 34th Ordinary Session of the AU Assembly held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 6–7 February. Assembly/AU/Dec.800 (XXXIV).
AU Assembly 2013. ‘50th Anniversary Solemn Declaration’. Adopted at the 21st Ordinary Session of the AU Assembly held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 26 May.
AU Council 2020a. ‘Annual Report on the Activities of the African Union and its Organs’. Adopted at the 36th Ordinary Session of the AU Council held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 6–7 February. EX.CL/1214 (XXXVI).
AU Council 2020b. ‘Decision on the Theme of the Year 2021: Arts, Culture and Heritage; Levers for Building the Africa We Want’. Adopted at the 37th Ordinary Session of the AU Executive Council held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 13–14 October. EX.CL /Dec.1098 (XXXVII).
AU MCI 2017. ‘Progress Report on the Implementation of Agenda 2063. First Ten-Year Implementation Plan’. Addis Ababa: AU Ministerial Committee on the Implementation of Agenda 2063, Strategic Policy Planning, Monitoring & Evaluation and Resource Mobilization Directorate (SPPMERM).
AUC and MFAT 2021. The African Union Handbook 2021. A Guide for Those Working with and Within the African Union [vol. 7]. Addis Ababa: AU Commission, Wellington NZ: Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
AUNY 2019. Africa at the United Nations. Yearbook 2019. New York NY: Permanent Observer Mission of African Union to the United Nations. URL: <https://www.africanunion-un.org/yearbook1> (accessed: 30 June 2022).
AUDA–NEPAD 2020. First Continental Report on the Implementation of Agenda 2063. Midrand: AU Development Agency–NEPAD.
AUDA–NEPAD 2021. ‘Annual Report 2021’. Midrand: AU Development Agency–NEPAD.
AUDA–NEPAD 2022. Second Continental Report on the Implementation of Agenda 2063. Midrand: AU Development Agency–NEPAD.
Engel, Ulf 2022a. Inventory of Key Decisions of the African Union and the Organisation of African Unity, 1963–2021. Leipzig: Research Centre Global Dynamics (mimeo).
OAU 2000. Constitutive Act of the African Union. Lomé: Organisation of African Unity.
Literature
Engel, Ulf 2022b. ‘African Union 2.0: Relaunching the Pan-African Project’. In J.W. Harbeson and D. Rothchild (eds.) Africa in World Politics. Sustaining Reform in a Turbulent World Order. 7th ed., London, New York NY: Routledge (in print).
Engel, Ulf 2023. ‘The African Union’. In U. Engel, J. Herpolsheimer, and F. Mattheis (eds.) The Handbook of the Globalisation Projects of Regional Organisations. Göttingen; Vandenhoek & Ruprecht (in progress).
Melber, Henning 2021. ‘Development’. In U. Engel (ed.) Yearbook on the African Union. Volume 1 (2020). Brill: Leiden, Boston MA, 51–67.
The 38th Ordinary Session of the OAU Assembly of Heads of State and Government took place on 8 July 2002 in Durban, South Africa. The meeting literally transformed the next day into the 1st Ordinary Session of the AU Assembly, held on 9–10 July 2022.
The eight REC s officially recognised by the AU are the Arab Maghreb Union (UMA), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD), the East African Community (EAC), the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
Although there are still some gaps regarding some regular OAU decisions and some extraordinary sessions, the AU Common Repository is trying to fill them step-by-step. See URL: <https://archives.au.int> (accessed: 30 June 2022). See also Engel (2022a).
This follows a first 28-page report, among others, on the domestication of Agenda 2063 and progress made on the Union’s flagship projects. The report was tabled in 2017 by the ministerial committee working towards the implementation of Agenda 2063 (AU MCI 2017).
The 15 flagship projects include (1) the integrated high-speed train network; (2) the formulation of an African commodities strategy; (3) the establishment of the African Continental Free Trade Area; (4) the policy on an African passport and free movement of people; (5) the Silencing the Guns by 2020 initiative (now postponed to 2030); (6) implementation of the Grand Inga Dam Project; (7) the establishment of a Single African Air-Transport Market; (8) an annual African economic forum; (9) African financial institutions; (10) the Pan-African e-Network; (11) the Africa Outer Space Strategy; (12) an African Virtual and E-University; (13) a cyber security project; (14) the Great African Museum; and (15) the Encyclopaedia Africana.
The 14 key programme areas are (1) conflict resolution, peace, and security; (2) infrastructure and energy development; (3) agricultural development; (4) trade and industrial development; (5) a visa-free Africa; (6) democracy, law, and human rights; (7) promoting health and nutrition; (8) migration, labour, and employment; (9) promoting sports and culture; (10) education, science, and technology; (11) youth development; (12) economic integration and private sector development; (13) diaspora and civil society engagement; and (14) gender equality and development.
Just in 2021, three AU member states were suspended from the Union’s activities because of coup d’états: Mali (1 June), Guinea (10 September), and Sudan (26 October).