AU’s Agenda 2063 and the quest to silence the guns Implications of recent coups in Africa on the African Continental Free Trade Area

Abstract

The recent spree of coups (failed and successful) in West Africa between 2020 to 2023 is a serious cause for concern in terms of the democratic trajectory of the continent. This, coupled with the incessant political instability across Africa (in countries like Mozambique, the DRC, the Tigray region civil war in Ethiopia, Islamic terrorism in many parts of the Sahel, and the Libyan crisis) that has continued unabated since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi, suggests nothing close to the aim of  ‘silencing of the guns’ in Africa. If anything, the insecurity situation in Africa seems to be worsening. Following the official launch of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in January 2021, what do these untenable political, and peace and security issues mean for the implementation and domestication of AfCFTA in the midst of the wars raging in Africa? This paper attempts to assess and critique the first ten-year plan of the AU’s Agenda 2063, specifically in terms of the aim of ensuring peace and security (silencing the guns), and then determining whether this ideal has created a conducive environment for successful implementation of the AfCFTA, or will do so in future. Some of the key drivers behind the recent spate of coups in Africa (mostly in West Africa) and the general political instability across the continent are explored and unravelled in this paper using Sankarist tools of analysis, and the Sankarist theory and praxis.