Meanwhile in Kigali, Rwanda, the African heads of state at the 27th African Union Summit (July 10-18) just launched the AU passport. Although currently only available to heads of state, permanent representatives and ministers of foreign affairs - it's an important step towards establishing free movement of people, goods and services across the continent.
The AU passport is part of the 2063 Agenda for “a continent with seamless borders”. Member state will start establishing the route towards offering the passports to citizens.
The African Summit attracted well over 3000 delegates from across the continent, including up to 35 Heads of State and Government, and was the biggest gathering of thought leaders and experts Rwanda had ever hosted.
This year the summit had a particular focus on the rights of women. Women's empowerment has actually been the theme of the conference for the past four years, indicating that the awareness of the problems and issues is very much out in the open, and there is a real concern for taking action.
Besides the passport, the AU agreed to levy taxes on certain imports in order to fund itself, becoming less reliant on external funding. This is a historic decision in itself.
P.S. But it's not like all countries are even waiting for the AU passport. For example, the EAC (East African Community) is leading the way to integration with a regional passport, fully digitised and incorporate biometric security, making it fully compliant with international best practise. The member states of EAC are Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. South Sudan want in as well.
The EAC by the way are considering a move into a single sovereign state, the East African Federation. And work is underway to establish a monetary union within 7 years. They also have a free trade area that includes SADC (Souther Africa Development Community) and COMESA (Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa).
As the world largely ignores this huge continent for other factors than violence and poverty it's going to leave the western world in a cloud of dust.
(The picture? That's my old house growing up in Tanzania.)
Read more about the summit in Rwanda's leading English daily aptly named The New Times:
http://www.newtimes.co.rw/section/Search/AU%20summit
The Summit website:
http://www.au.int/en/summit/27
The African Union Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/AfricanUnionCommission/
