Attempts at regional integration in Africa date back to the pre-independence era, when the decolonization agenda was the main factor driving regionalism. During the immediate post-independence period in Africa, there were many attempts towards unification. A number of African leaders, among them Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, and Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya, were strong advocates of the Pan-Africanism movement and were instrumental in the establishment of the Organization of African States (OAU), the predecessor to the African Union (AU). At the regional level, there have been numerous attempts to establish regional blocks designed to reduce barriers to trade and restrictions on the movement of people across national boundaries. Although African regional integration efforts date back many years, overall progress has been slow and has faced many setbacks. Economic development is a significant dimension of regional integration. Around the world, building functioning regional markets has been the key to unlocking greater economic opportunity. Market development necessitates working across borders, and historically the most successful markets have been those that have effectively and efficiently spanned countries and regions. The ancient Silk Road comes to mind, as do burgeoning markets in Europe and Asia. A crucial part of unlocking economic potential is spatial planning—building infrastructure and institutions where they are needed most. Although regional integration is inherently political, economic considerations must drive the process.Today, African regional integration appears to be gaining considerable momentum. Several of the Regional Economic Communities (RECs), among them the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the East African Community (EAC), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), have seen progress in their efforts, as discussed below. Significantly, broader efforts at continental integration are also gaining ground, most notably through the landmark Abuja Treaty that resulted from the Final Act of Lagos in 1991. During the last AU Summit held in January 2012 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the heads of state agreed to fast track the establishment of a Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) by 2017. This push for closer integration is further evidenced in the announcement of the 2008 tripartite agreement among three of the well-established RECs in Eastern and Southern Africa, the EAC, COMESA and SADC, to merge and form the Tripartite Group or African Free Trade Zone. However, many challenges remain to achieving full integration of the RECs, let alone the establishment of a supra-regional or continental FTA. This paper catalogues the progress made towards regional integration in Africa, with a focus on the various obstacles these efforts have faced. In the section that follows, we start with a discussion of the importance of regional integration to Africa, highlighting some of the political and economic benefits that are expected from regional integration and previewing some of the more significant challenges. Section III provides a brief status report of the current state of regional integration on the continent. Section IV discusses the main challenges that have slowed regional integration efforts. Section V concludes with some observations about the future of regional integration in Africa and the way forward
