By Coletta Wanjohi
Heads of state and government from member countries of the African Union (AU) are converging on the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa for their annual summit amid unsettling uncertainties that have tested the strength and cohesion of regional blocs.
Moussa Faki Mahamat, chairperson of the African Union Commission, put the challenges in context while addressing executive council members at their opening session on February 14.
"A new phenomenon of weakening of our regional and continental governance institutions is taking place," he told the executive council, comprising foreign ministers tasked with outlining the agenda for the February 17-18 summit of AU heads of state.
In West Africa, the 15-strong regional bloc ECOWAS is grappling with the decision by three member states — Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger — to exit the organisation. All three countries, currently under military rule, have refused to comply with the mandated year's notice that a member should give the regional body before exiting.
Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger accused ECOWAS of "lack of concrete support in the fight against terrorism" and "deviation from its founding ideals", among other grouses.
The three countries were meeting in Burkina Faso to discuss creating a confederation distinct from the existing blocs. They already have an economic and defence pact, signed last September to form the Alliance of Sahel States.
Divergent views
Opinion is divided on whether the concerns raised by Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger about ECOWAS are valid.
"If you look at it from the perspective of how the AU, especially the Peace and Security Council, has dealt with issues such as unconstitutional changes in government, it would be fair to say that what these countries have alleged (against ECOWAS) isn't without reason," Tsion Hagos, programme director of the independent pan-African policy research organisation Amani Africa, tells TRT Afrika.
Chad remains under military rule and was never suspended from the AU. Chad, which straddles North and Central Africa, has had a military administration since President Idriss Déby Itno died in 2021.
Guinea, Gabon and the three countries exiting ECOWAS remain suspended from the activities of the AU for persisting with military rule.
Sovereignty question
ECOWAS isn't the only regional bloc whose foundation has been rocked.
In Eastern Africa, Sudan announced in January that it was suspending its membership in the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), which the AU had tasked to help end the fighting between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces since April 2022.
The Democratic Republic of Congo, on the other hand, refused to renew the mandate of the East African Community Regional Force after December 8. It accused the force, deployed in July 2022 to quell the threat from multiple armed outfits, of "ineffectiveness and colluding with the rebels".
The DRC government said it would prefer the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to start sending troops instead.
"I ask myself this question and ask it to you. Since when and for how long will the building stand and resist the collapse of its pillars and foundations?" the AU Commission's chairperson asked the foreign ministers assembled in Addis Ababa.
The AU recognises the sovereign equality of its member states. The Constitutive Acts acknowledge that a country has the right to defend its sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence.
In effect, this allows member states to refrain from complying with decisions made by the AU or their regional mechanisms.
"This is one of those moments where you ask yourself, 'Is the AU a perfectly supernational organisation?' Without members giving a certain extent of their sovereignty to the bloc, the AU will continue facing challenges," Hagos tells TRT Afrika.
Experts partly blame member states' failure to respect AU decisions for the absence of a continental military intervention force.
"The AU is still to operationalise the African Standby Force. This is part of the problem," says Hagos.
The African Standby Force was meant to be a continental peacekeeping force for deployment within Africa in times of crisis. The proposal was mooted in 2003 but is still to be translated into reality.
"Of course, having this force doesn't necessarily address the invocation of national sovereignty. But if there were a very organised way of deploying forces, then it would avoid this tension between regional blocs as we see in the DRC," Hagos explains.
Experts say there is also a need for a candid discussion on where the role of the regional mechanisms should end.
The AU Peace and Security Council has been blamed for endorsing all decisions made at the regional level instead of exercising its say on whether a particular decision is valid.
Time to introspect
The AU recognises eight Regional Economic Communities (RECs), including the Arab Maghreb Union, Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, Community of Sahel-Saharan States, East African Community, Economic Community of Central African States, ECOWAS, IGAD and the SADC.
All of these were formed before the launch of the AU, have developed individually and have differing roles and structures.
Hagos believes that the moment of reckoning has now arrived for the AU.
"This is the signal to take lessons from what has happened and value consistency. When you return to what you normally do or what your normative framework provides, you set an example for others to follow. We are looking for sustainable unity," he says.
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