Hello G-Lers

I have been reading some wonderful postings but I have to admit that this
particlar one is intriguing and African Unity is a sine quo non for our
development efforts as a continent trying to catch up with the rest of the
world. Now that we are living in a borderless and boundaryless world driven
by technological advancement and the information super-highway, what we need
is a continent that is economically integrated, despite our cultural,
language, political differences, among other things. I cannot more than
agree with Mr. Njie citing NAFTA and EU as the two best classic examples of
economic integration.

This topic interest me a great deal and I would like to congratulate Mr.
Jones on the wonderful postings regarding this subject matter which I think
we should  explore further.

Clincher: "Think globally and act locally"

Long Live Gambia and the African Continent.


Serign Cham.

e exampleswe --On Wednesday, September 22, 1999, 10:19 AM +0000 "Nyang Njie"
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Hello G-Lers
> I enjoyed reading the postings with regards to African unity. I think that
> it is a noble goal that Africans need to pursue with vigor.  In recent
> years, we have witnessed the formation of economic and political blocks
> around the world (case in point NAFTA and EU).
>
> Most proponents of continental unity put the cart before the horse. We
> cannot achieve continental unity without strong regional cooperation.
> Organizations such as ECOWAS, MAHGREB, and the East African common market
> should be used as platforms for the formation of a strong and viable
> continental body. A major obstacle to continental unity is the reluctance
of
> politicians to relinquish or surrender powers to a more centralize body.
> ECOWAS has been in existence for quite a while, but it had a limited
success
> in integrating West Africa into a common market. This is mainly due to
> member states not having a uniform policy to achieve goals set forth by
the
> organization. African unity will only be a reality when our political
> leaders realize that they have to loose some power for a greater good.
>
> The emerging trend of closer economic cooperation within countries of
> Western Europe, North America and the Asia Pacific rim will force Africa
to
> forge unions or common markets. The bargaining power of individual states
> will be diluted because most of our trading partners in Europe will
> negotiate deals to benefit the European Union not individual countries.
>
> Jere Jef,
> Daddy Njie.
>
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