The African Union and New Strategies for Development in Africa B ...

The last section focuses on political and security issues, especially the various initiatives both at the continental and subregional levels (RECs) developed to address these problems. Undoubtedly, the political and security situation in most parts of Africa is quite fragile, which requires new institutional mechanisms and initiatives to tackle them. The following issues are discussed: the gradual transformation of the multilateral security institutions in ECOWAS and the AU; the different initiatives on governance at the regional and subregional levels, including the AU, UNECA, and ECOWAS, and the impact those initiatives are having in transforming governance norms and practices, as well as deepening democratic culture in Africa; the interface between security and democratization in the SADC region; and the prospects of peace in the Darfur region of Sudan, as well as the role of the AU in facilitating it. As there are multiple challenges confronting the African continent and its integration pull, so are there multiple initiatives and responses to addressing them. In spite of the high level of civil strife in Africa as compared to other parts of the World, there is progress on the evolving regional security architecture being constructed; governance is improving, though slowly, in many parts of Africa (e.g., this is attested to in Southern Africa), and the debilitating problem of citizenship is being discussed, though not enough policy attention is being paid yet to this problem. The formation of a union government may offer either an ample opportunity or a step forward in addressing some of these problems, including that of citizenship. As Nkrumah (1964) optimistically averred,