Gradual integration path
The Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) is one of the eight (8) sub-regional pillars forgradual integration recognized by the African Union (AU). It is not an institution just for regional, but also for African integration. Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, ourlate eloquent teacher-statesman, commented on the risk of sub-regional blocks like Ecowas, EAC {East African Community), among others, delaying continental integration. And history has validated this concerned risk.
The founders had debated whether to establish immediately a federation of African states, but had settled for a gradual integration process based on the said pillars of sub-regional communities and mechanisms. Thus, the Organization for African Unity(OAU) was born on 25th May, 1963, a historic day commemorated as African Liberation Day from oppressive colonialism, neo-colonialism, and apartheid. However, this gradual process has evolved into the AU in 2001, moving from the principle of non-interference to one of non-indifference in the Constitutive Act. That is, collective intervention when deemed necessary under “grave circumstances, namely war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.”For example, the on-going AU-Ecowas intervention in The Gambia, endorsed by the United Nations Security Council; the previous interventions in Comoros and Madagascar through the South African Development Community (SADC); and in Somalia and Sudan through the Inter-governmental Authority on Development (IGAD).
Unconstitutional change of government
The current crisis of coups d’etat in Ecowas, a sub-regional integration pillar created in 1975, is a major setback for democratic development in Africa. The legal text against military seizure of state power is clear. The other forms of manipulating the constitution to extend state power are also clearly unacceptable, in line with the Lome Declaration (2000) on the response to unconstitutional changes of Government, and later reaffirmed during the 16th Extra-ordinary AU Summit (Malabo, 2022). Thus, suspension from the sub-regional and continental organizations is principled, aligned, and automatic. The only exception is a revolutionary situation, in which the people have risen and toppled the government of the day, as it happened in Tunisia and Egypt in 2011.
In Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, and Niger, however, the military seized state power, and were suspended accordingly. It is true that there is a lack of consistency in the principled application of the legal text. In Chad, the coup d’etat that brought late President Idris Deby’s son into power did not result in automatic suspension or sanctions; and nor did the civilian manipulation of Guinea’s constitution for a third term by former President Alpha Conde, until the military seized state power.
Indeed, in Ecowas or elsewhere, there was no need to threaten the use of force to restore constitutional order, if negotiation was preferred given the conditions of inconsistency in the application of the legal text and violent resistance. Three of the military regimes, with some popular support, have now decided to leave Ecowas, namely Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger; and have moved on to build an Alliance of Sahelian States (AES).
Where do we go from here? Is it regional disintegration, or a path of variable geometry (at varied speed) towards sub-regional and continental integration?
Ecowas has warned of difficulties for the people arising from disintegration, but has also opened a path for negotiations. The Togolese President and newly elected President of Senegal have been assigned the task, with the latter enlisting the experienced counsel of Prof. Abdoulaye Bathily, as a special envoy. Thenegotiation efforts should be supported. That is, aligned integration efforts to improve significantly, and urgently, the poor and insecure living conditions of the citizens.
Principle of elective governance
The people in Ecowas and elsewhere have a right to elect, and be elected; this democratic right cannot be usurped by the most organized, elitist military or civilian force in society by using violence or other means. It is a matter of principle, that the people are their own liberators who cannot be sidelined by their supposed saviors. This basic idea, which generations have fought and died for, cannot be lost to us.
Fight we must to ensure African and diaspora unity, for an end to colonialism, apartheid, and their new forms. Imagine, having broken the chains of chattel (“property”) enslavement, we then were colonized with more violence and plunder. Thus, we continued the anti-imperialist struggle for independence to unite the broken-up pieces of the African continent, that was “formalized” during the Berlin conference of 1884-85.
Lest we forget, the OAU/AU, and its sub-regional pillars, were born out of this pan-African struggle for freedom from foreign domination, and for justice everywhere. Still, decolonization in Africa is incomplete in some territories, like Ceuta and Melilaunder the Spanish, Chagos under the British, and Mayotte under the French; and new colonial forms of exploitative domination and corruption have appeared, being the root causes of vicious cycles of coups d’etat and more mass misery.
Own liberation
The long-suffering people expect material benefits from any governance system in place, whether inmilitary or civilian form. History has taught us that participation, not exclusion, is the key to democratic development, and hence democratic governance being preferred. For continuity on this path of freedom and justice, Africa has its common defense and security policy, and its architecture for peace and security,including a standby force. A foreign force cannot be substituted for own sacrifice, not even by the blue-helmets of the United Nations-system acting in solidarity. The latter, or any other outside force, cannot bring us peace and justice.
Avoiding disintegration requires support for the on-going negotiations, but also for the standby force of men and women equally dedicated to make the ultimate sacrifice. Rather than African competition to head new colonial commonwealth organizations, whether under a British monarch or a French republican ruler, or to have military bases of foreign powers on African soil, more cooperative effort is needed in providing own solutions within self-reliant African institutions. Solidarity from the international community is appreciated; as Pa Amilcar Cabral has said, no matter how hot the water from the well, it cannot cook the rice. It cannot replace own effort, in the meeting hall, and on the battlefield. In other words,in Wollof, ndimbal defa feka loho borom! M.SajoJallow, with editorial assistance by HamedouDrammeh and Musa Sanneh