Sanctioned African states Mali and Guinea will now trade on non-preferential terms with the rest of the countries on the continent following their suspension from the ECOWAS over the recent coups, according to Wamkele Mene, Secretary-General of the AfCFTA Secretariat.Per law, the two nations will also not enjoy the benefits that they ordinarily would get in a continent-wide trade agreement like the AfCFTA.
“The suspension of the two nations means that they cannot participate in AfCFTA events and meetings until that sanction is lifted. From the trade point of view, it means that where preferences were being extended between the various party states, that has also become automatically suspended,” he discloses to Single African Market in an interview.
In practice, Mr. Mene says it will be very difficult to monitor that since goods will still be crossing their borders but ECOWAS and the African Union strongly condemn the coup d’états in the two countries.
“Regrettably, we no longer have their expertise as individuals because they cannot participate in our meetings; it is a matter of regret that they can no longer make contributions on the ongoing negotiations on the various protocols which enriched our discussions,” Mr. Mene adds.The African Union is well capacitated to deal with security issues whether trade and cyber-related or in any other form.
The AfCFTA Secretariat, for instance, has a commissioned department for peace and security staffed with persons with the right skillset and experience to deal with any security-related issues that may arise.The AfCFTA boss says breach of democratic governance processes in Africa pose serious disruptions to economic activities and lives of traders and that of small and medium-sized enterprises.
“They are very disruptive; they disrupt trade and other forms of economic activity and more importantly, they disrupt the growth or sustainability of small and medium enterprises that are led by women as well as women traders,” he shares.
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