Towards a Constructive AU-EU-UN Trilateral Relationship?

If I had not said it before, let me just say that if there is one fallout from the global financial crisis, it is perhaps how it has spawned a need in some quarters to look within existing organisational structures to see what works and what does not. This means that regional groupings are beginning to make their internal mechanisms more efficient to--one-would-assume--protect their groupings.

As the African Union celebrates 2010 as the Year of Peace and Security, it is heart-warming to read that the EU, along with the UN and the AU are getting serious about how to collaborate to ensure a more peaceful and balanced world. To read this even when the EU has passed the Treaty of Lisbon is encouraging.

But only insofar as inherent asymmetries between parties like the EU and the AU are addressed in a more comprehensive manner than free trade agreements like the EPAs!

Serrano reaffirmed EU's support for the regional integration agenda as a means to achieve economic growth and peace where he said the EU has developed regional strategies in partnership with all world regions.

"The challenges facing the international community -- poverty, conflict, terrorism, non-proliferation, climate change, are closely interlinked and of a magnitude that requires collective action," Serrano said.

Underwhelming Close of Sixth Session of ACP Summit

I came in some twenty minutes ago to see President Kufuor and a mini-phalanx of diplomats leaving this frightfully-chilling hall. I got wind that there was no press conference to end the whole affair, which also means that the twice-postponed press conference with the Ivorian diplomat fell through in a radically-twisted way.

These ACP guys must have a twisted sense of humour, because if they think this is the way of promoting transparency, accountability and whatnot, they better do a double-take.

Many of us are not amused. Even the delegates who stood almost-useless outside the foyer wondered what on Earth merited some of the discussions to be closed-sessions? Can anyone help?

The ACP Group needs a serious revision of how it does things. This does not make those of us hawkishly watching the EPA discussions encouraged that they can go onto better things!

They get a C+.

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EPAs to Top Agenda on Final Day of 6 ACP Summit

I think it might be stretching it a bit to think that expectations might be raised. Currently sitting at the press centre, waiting for the press conference of the Ivorian minister on the EPAs. Should draw quite a crowd. Two of my colleagues are here, waiting to filter the technical aspects of the EPAs through the lens of the minister's utterances, I am sure. Or is that the other way round?

The picture shows a snapshot of the entrance of the doorway to the plenary meeting, which has been closed session since yesterday. The guys inside have special badges, " CLOSED SESSION". Even Dr.DICK Naezer(sp)of the EU delegation here in Accra was


stopped by security, as he went along with his colleague.

My colleague and I speculated that he will most likely bulldoze his way through the meeting this morning, which is supposed to be on FUTURE OF THE ACP GROUP.

The guy to the left of the picture is a journalist who is based in Abidjan. Don't know his name. All I know is the anecdotal information of EU Development Minister Louis Michel having had his stomach stapled, giving him the slimmer appearance, and how "despicable" a character he is. I always knew that;-) The lady to the right is a Balgian journalist who was keen to get a background of the guy on the left. I swear I was not eavesdropping. Being so close as I am, any information is great, dontcha think?

It's 10h17. Press conference ought to start soon! Before I go, let me show you a snapshot of the edition of Graphic Business of this past Tuesday:



It might all be about the money, but it's certainly all about the EPAs now!!

Bank of the South is Here, But Can Africa Bank on the Latin American Way of Regional Integration?

The new multilateral institution is considered as an alternative to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank and seeks to satisfy development credits demand.

Seriously, it's more than an alternative; it's also yet another expression of Venezuela and its associate MERCOSUR members of their dissatisfaction with the prevalent neoliberal system.

I've written about this Bank of the South before and I explained that the Latin Americans had something that Africans certainly didn't. Beyond blood running through their veins, it's about a radicalism and conviction so unprecedented and emanating that any of their opponents feel it viscerally that these are people not to be toyed with.

If not, how is it that despite the articulations of Venezuela against the mighty US, Venezuela has -- along with Brazil; Argentina; Bolivia; Ecuador and Paraguay -- establish this Bank of the South [I notice no Uruguay!!]. Yet, Africans have allowed themselves to be fragmented on the so-called Economic Partnership Agreements?

The fallout of the signing of a so-called EPA-lite by the East African Community and SADC (without South Africa and Namibia) just leaves one speechless--not to mention a little bit less for wear the arduous efforts of civil society -- both in the North and the South.

That said, it's important to press on to stop the discussions between the bullying EU and the other regions.

In my view, the Bank of the South initiative, a formidable alternative indeed to the Breton Woods institutions of the World Bank and IMF in the sense that "each member country would have a single vote, irrespective of size and financial contribution" (from:http://www.nationnews.com/290175804330225.php) brings into sharp relief the necessity for greater collaboration between MERCOSUR in general/Latin America specifically and other AU regionalisms to learn lessons on how they were able to resist the Free Trade Area of the Pacific in 2005, yet AU/ACP countries allowed fragmentation by the EU.

While this issue of the Bank of the South, in my view, is one of the most progressive developments in global regional integration to date--bar the ASEAN charter-- Africans ought to contemporaneously reflect on whether there is that much of a difference between the EU and the US, for them to have allowed the EU--former colonisers at that--to hoodwink many of them into an interim agreement that will most likely destroy attempts at regional integration.

Cape Verde Sets Stage for ECOWAS-UNESCO Meet on Regional Integration

As the momentum on the Global Stop EPA Day gathers storm today, it is timely that Cape Verde would have just ended a three-day meeting, in collaboration with UNESCO on Regional integration in West Africa.

The theme of the conference was, according to this article on t he theme of "Nation-states and the challenges of regional integration in West Africa."

Ofcourse, I use the word "timely", because for those cognescenti of the EPA negotiations, the EU claims that it will facilitate ECOWAS regional integration. Progressive civil society knows this to be untrue.

But ofcourse, this UNESCO-funded seminar, under its programme of Management of Social Transformations programme (MOST) has more to do with the social implications of regional integration in ECOWAS and less to do with the EPAs.

The "specificity" of this article, to borrow from the article listed above, stems from the fact that in April this year, Cape Verde also played host to a similar meeting, where the meeting:

...examined the specificity of the Cape Verde archipelago within West African economic cooperation

Apparently,

Since its launch, the cases of 10 of the 15 ECOWAS member states have been analysed at national seminars in Benin (8-9 October 2005), Ghana (8-9 November 2005), Mali (14-15 November 2005), Burkina Faso (21-22 November 2005), Gambia (22-23 December 2005), Niger (18-19 October 2006), Togo (22-23 August 2006), Senegal (13-14 September 2006), Cape Verde (4-5 April 2007) and in Guinea (30-31 May 2007)

The uniqueness of the meeting was that it grouped together

scientists, political decision-makers and those involved in economic and social development with the support of several international organizations involved in social development in Africa (the African Capacity Building Foundation, the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and Trust Africa).

It's great to know that a book will come out of this meeting. The article maintains:

Every meeting leads to the publication of a book by the Karthala publishing house. The books on Benin, Mali, Senegal and Niger will be available at the Praia meeting, a UNESCO release said

It is expected that ann international conference will be held in AUTUMN 2008,

to produce a draft of proposals on regional integration for submission to the ECOWAS Heads of State.

We wait in eager anticipation!

Here be Some Revelations: The European Union's View on Regional Integration (in ASEAN)

All's well that ends well--even in ASEAN, which has a very different kind of regional cooperation to that of the EU. You know you're doing something right, I suppose, when the EU tells you that your regional cooperation is the best and most successful in the world. Check these soundbites out by EU Parliamentarian, Hartmut Nassauer, invited to the 28th session of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly:

1. "We have good relations and strong economic links. The EU is a large investor and we create a lot of trade in Asean and vice-versa."

2. "Apart from having a common economic interest, our regional cooperation is the most advanced and successful in the world,"

3. "Until last year AIPA was still called the Parliamentary Organisation. It stresses parliamentary influence in Asean just like the European parliament"

A very superficial analysis would reveal, from these quotes at least, that the EU is no less than pleased with how ASEAN does business. It is evidently looking forward to ASEAN becoming a bigger bloc--as evidenced by this statement here:

Nassauer said the EU would support Asean the best it could in its efforts to speed up integration of the Asean community particularly on the single common market

I guess there can be nothing wrong with parties seeking to maximise cooperation, while contemporraneously lending credence to the maxim that there are "no permanent friends, only permanent allies", as so wittily enunciated by Palmerston with regard to British foreign policy in the nineteenth century.

So, you've got no bother, really, wondering why the EU would be making such proclamations at this time.

Either way, I'm bored. Bored because these pronouncements are nothing mere than reflections of a less-than-altruistic motive by the EU to woo the ASEAN region like never before. And here's the bombshell: the EU betrays itself by giving us mere mortals a sneak preview into how it conceives of regional integration. Read carefully:

the basic element for the EU approach of regional cooperation was

how to strike a balance between the super powers like China, India and the United States

.

"The only chance for the weaker and smaller states is for them to act together. For a balanced development, South-east Asian states had decided to act as a regional cooperation,"

he added.

If that be the case, why the hell will the European Union not leave Africa alone to manage its own regional integration? Why does it seek to force one for us--as evidenced by the aggressive pursuit of the Economic Partnership Agreement, slated for December this year?

Does it mean, therefore, that it's one rule for ASEAN, and another altogether for African Union's regional organisations?

Mauritania & ECOWAS: A Self-centred Cooperation?

So, Mauritania wants to relate to ECOWAS? It would be welcome news if it weren't for the fact that the pseudo West African country, with a (natural) penchant for the Maghreb, left the 15-member bloc back in 1999.

Even if ECOWAS has moved on--and, really, does it have a choice?--as to whether it will accept Mauritania back into the Black West African fold is a moot point.

The motivation behind the overtures has to do with the proverbial "strengthening of relations" (the quotes are mine). This is evidently diplomatic-speak for "we need to talk some more on matters of mutual concern!". Frankly, there's nothing wrong with that; the only concern is as to whether Mauritania might want to re-join ECOWAS, and that's when the eyebrows in ECOWAS might be raised collectively, and the questions might be asked: can we trust this country?.

Either way, ECOWAS President is said to have obtained a warm reception from Mauritania:

The decision to strengthen relations was reached during the 15-17 August visit to Mauritania by the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Mohammed Ibn Chambas, who led a high-level ECOWAS delegation.

ECOWAS and Mauritanian officials "emphasized the very strong ties which have existed for centuries between the ECOWAS countries and Mauritania – characterised by brotherhood, friendship and good neighbourliness - and reaffirmed their common determination to strengthen them for the benefit of their peoples", the statement said

It said the two parties reaffirmed their common determination to strengthen their relations in all areas of common interest.

To this end, they agreed to negotiate as soon as possible an Association Agreement, which will guide their economic and trade relations.

from:http://www.afriquenligne.fr/index2.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6260&pop=1&page=0&Itemid=115

From the country that has only recently outlawed the antiquated crime of slavery (as per the BBC news report of 9 August this year), I wonder what "brotherhood" these two parties are talking about.

Alls well that ends...and all that...

I am personally happy to hear that Mauritanian president Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi is keen on enhancing relations, but I wonder whether it is a little less than altruistic, for despite talk of an Association Agreement between ECOWAS and the north-West african country, there is sneaky talk of the so-called and thorny Economic Partnership Agreements, that is slated for December 2007 (that is unless civil society has anything to do with that date!!):

after a working session with the Chairman of the ECOWAS Commission, Mohamed Ibn Chambas, Mauritanian officials are more than convinced that the country has missed a lot of benefits for pulling out of the regional body.

Mauritanian officials have now shown their commitment to restore cooperation with ECOWAS, which obviously enables the country to tap existing trade benefits, especially the Cotonou Agreement, a 20-year trade package signed between the European Community, its member states and 77 countries of African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP). The package was signed on 23 June 2000.

from:http://www.afrol.com/articles/26450

The article, from suggesting that the EPA is a positive development (how would I conclude anything but that if it is talking about "tapping" into the "trade benefits") has also hinted that the agreement is going to go ahead!!!

The agreement serves as a platform of integration in world trade as well as gave birth to the creation of Economic Partnership Agreements between the EU and the ACP countries.

Mr Chambas’ visit was seen as epitomising the wishes of both Mauritanian government and the ECOWAS, which is to promote a privileged partnership under EU-ACP negotiations through the Cotonou Agreement.

Whatever the case may be, unless civil society--and it won't yield--has anything to do with it, December 2007 could just be not only a cause celebre, but a cause to celebrate the demise of this most egregious of agreements that seeks to re-formulate Africa's efforts on regional integration!

A few months ago, Mauritania re-joined the fold of the African Union; it better not get too close to these EPAs...