Workshop:

Futur development and democratization of the African Union is essential for Africa populations interest but also for a more fair equitable international order. One essential condition to the AU future development will be to give priority to democracy, human rights, good governance and an AU stronger willingness to go beyond cooperation toward sovereignty sharing. It is possible to determine an AU elected parliament to reinforce both democratic responsibility and a feeling of collective interests among Africans.

Despite terrible poverty and oppression problems in some regions in Africa, there are in some african states encouraging signs of economic development and greater self-confidence in their political role on the international arena. The European Union experience lead to presume that in its next development stage, AU should create a more internal and free trade system, thus leading to a complete common market which could be extended in the future to the rest of the continent. This could allow, using the european Union example, to prepare the creation of a common african monetary system. Such event would contribute significantly to Africa and developped countries exchange improvment.

The NEPAD, an African Union programme puts value on building relations and world partnerships that could set Africa in a sustainable way to development. To do so the programme is adopting a new approach built on resources mobilization that could reduce chronic financial deficit estimated between 64 and 110 billions USD annually. Industrialized nations of the G8, OECD and multilateral and regional organizations are truly involved in building this partnership. The AU/NEPAD programme, vision, strategic goals and sectoral prorities is indicating new effort to focus on mutual action, on reactivity and responsability for both Africa and its partners in development. The AU african action plan (AAP)provide one of the most viable plateform that is an authority in the field and can generate needed support for the african continent development.

When supplementing the African Unity Organization (AUO), the African Union (AU) give itself the ambition to renew and consolidate the economic and political integration project launched in 1963. To this effect, the new organization constitutive Act which main features was designed in the Syrte Declaration (Lybia) of September 9, 1999has set objectives and implemented a new constitional framework that goes beyond diplomatic approach finally priviledged by the AUO. It is in the organic view that changes are more notable with especially a Commission destined to dispatch and impluse the unitary dynamic.

Through this last aspect, the creation of the peace and security Council is translating the willingness to break with wars fatality and to provide itself with adequate tools to take up peace challenges and promote common defense policy. However announced ruptures with AUO misleadings are facing realities about an Africa continent always stacked to the state sovereignty dogma and confronted especially to financial difficulties that are postponing the huge reform regarding collective policies.

The unitary state is the dominant state form in the african continent. Formally there are three states that have adopted a federal system: Nigeria, Ethiopia and South Africa.

The small number of federal states is explained by historical reasons. When decolonization occurs, the objective was to creat a national feeling inside states built by colons. Arbitratry frontiers created by the Berlin conference in 1885 should be respected based on the uti possidetis principle, corrollary of independance granting. However one of the characteristic of these states was the cohabitation between many ethnic groups (more than a hundred in Cameroun) and the separation/repartition of a same ethnic group between two or many states (Hausa in Niger and Nigeria; Fangs in Gabon, Cameroun and Equatorial Guinea). Even though these types of situation are not happening in Africa exclusively as it is shown in the european continent through Basque issues in France and Spain or in a more visible case the scissiparity phenomenon in the Balkans. Some postcolinal episodes in Katanga or in Biafra have strengthened the necessity to create a nation state in the afriacan continent.

Public services decentralization in Sub Saharan Africa has been certainly surveyed many times. But its impact on local societies still to be explored due to the predominance of normative, legal-administrative approachs in the literature. These approaches from the « top » do give much consideration to actors point of views and practices. Our paper is presenting a survey done on sociopolitical effects of decentralized land tenure management in a rural senegalese community using an interactionist perspective. This approach is trying to analyze how people are appropriating institutional settings and also revealing stakes and power strategies related to this situation. In one part local elected officials, state workers, private entrepreneurs and traditional chiefs do negotiate very often financial resources control through power games, conflicts and alliances.In another part they are dealing with users who are trying most of the time to maximize their land profits and reduce risks of land loss.

Decentralization is being implemented in Cameroun. It is becoming a reality in the country. As an economic, administrative, social and political construction, it is appearing to be a factor contributing to democracy, state rebuilding and local development impulsion. It should help rebuilt the relationship between state and citizens, move forward democratic process and promote population participation to public affairs management.

Many documents and publications have been published on the decentralization topic in Cameroun, Africa and around the world. But these publications are not very often well known.

The ADEC project is filling this gap through supporting decentralization process in Cameroun. It is implementing a library specialized in decentralization and decentralization capacity building. This document is presenting major guidelines of documents gathered and available in the ADEC project for the public.

Ivoirity destiny as a concept is an idea that did not succeed to realize caring intentions of its creators. It is also the destiny of an idea not understood and criticized correctly,also not well presented. Taken out of its creator cultural context,manipulated by individuals with political agenda in a sensitive environment, ivoirity that should unite us did divide us. Should we review this concept taken into hostage to use it as the bacon for sub-regional african integration, main element of african unity? Why and how can we dedramatize a noble concept that unable to fullfill its first objective?

We need to drop demagogic vision of this concept and utilize the citizen-based aspect of it and then reminding that nation-state (lawful political community) prevails only when reasonable individuals do overcome thier individuality and open themselves to otherness.

Like all subsaharan countries, the CEEAC in general and the CEMAC in particular are involved in a regionalisation process. If regionalism in Central Africa can be dated in a long historical past back to the colonisation period, processes progress have been in an irregular rythmn while some domains are lacking intensity found in other regional organisations in the continent.

However reform actions launched in the 90s have allowed an effective redynamisation generating therefore a real optimism.

This document is the summary of the forum organized by ARGA in Addis Ababa (November 24-26 2005)

My intention in addressing you today is to look at regional integration in Africa from a comparative standpoint: what can we say about these different integration processes in comparison to what we have observed on other continents?

Let us begin with two dates: 1910 and 1919. The former saw the creation of the Southern African Customs Union, whereas the latter marked the birth of the East African Community. Judging from these two dates, Africa was among the precursors of a regional integration movement that only really took hold in the rest of the world more than 50 years later.

And yet, at first glance, if we look at the level of intra-regional trade today,Africa is lagging behind: in Europe, intra-regional trade has reached 60 per cent; in North America, 40 per cent; in ASEAN, 30 per cent; and in Africa, somewhere between 10 and 20 per cent depending on how we look at the statistics.

Engaged in democratization process most of african countries have launched in the mid 90s administrative reforms mainly oriented toward decentralization policies.

These policies perceived as democracy and sustainable development providers (proximity is perceived as a « good governance » factor) have been materialized through local and decentralized collectivities implementation lead by elected municipal councillors.

Experience has been proven that these processes are getting nowhere and it become urgent to revitalize these policies.

This notebook of propositions is written for this purpose. But it is not created ex nihilo, all major ideas are synthesis of analyzed experiences and words from different people.

Since October 1999, the Network, « Dialogues on governance in Africa » has been working in the Western and Central regions of the continent to promote a radical reform in governance in order to legitimise it and ensure its conformity to the values and needs of the African people. This Network is made up of Africans and non-Africans who have embarked on actions and reflections among African people and in the world as a whole in order to foster dialogue in the management of public affairs in Africa.