“Of increasingly pressing importance is the question of the regional or subregional
dimensions of building a pan-African continental political community. This question came to a head at the last heads-of-state summit of the African Union (AU) in Accra, Ghana. The summit was devoted to what was billed as a ‘Grand Debate’ about establishing a ‘United States of Africa.’
The bone of contention was Libyan leader, Col. Muammar al-Qaddafi’s bid to have the AU agree to construct the United States of Africa in little more than eight years (establishment of union government in 2009; its consolidation in 2012; US of Africa by 2015). In the aftermath of the summit, what follows is a revision of the initial discussion draft. It attempts to factor in some of the discourse generated by the build-up to and the immediate aftermath of Accra.
To a large extent, the bias of this brief toward the need for Africa to focus on a
regionalized path to continental union government, aligns with the actual outcome of the summit.”
