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Central Africa |
REGIONAL INTEGRATION
The African states missed the departure of the «integration train».
There’s
still the problem of borders
Unlike West African states, where regional integration is moving forward quickly, particularly as regards economics and free circulation of people and goods, those in central Africa missed the departure of the «integration train».
Protectionism, nationalism and the fear of a protectionist society still remain the main obstacles to integration, «which is still on the drawing board», despite the launch of a single passport in July 2001 for the people of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC).
Long advocated at meetings of heads of state in the region, the question of regional integration remains a dead letter. Promises to recognise citizenship that would favour movement and interchange, have not been put into effect, and the use of the CEMAC passport provokes unfavourable reaction among politicians.
Those leaving one country have difficulty in being accepted in another, and the procedures for obtaining visas are among the worst of the problems. Sometimes they only arrive after stormy negotiations, often over the head of the applicant.
Are the countries ready to open their borders? The income of the consular services for central African countries, to supply exit visas and to produce residence permits for foreigners, according to some local newspapers, comes to several billion CFA francs a year. For the past two or three years, several central and West African countries have applied the principle of reciprocity. So, for example, recently Senegal joined in with charges for obtaining visas for Gabon, identical to those required by the Gabonese authorities for people leaving their country.
Gabon
Although Gabonese pay an affordable price for visas in all countries — especially with little red tape —, foreign applicants for this little Eldorado have to pay considerable sums.
Foreign residents even have to pay for an exit visa — the price of which varies according to their country of origin. This visa normally takes 72 hours to arrive. It is therefore difficult to leave the country spontaneously, depending on airline timetables. This additional restriction makes the work of some business people or movement of families on the occasion of a marriage or a death in the country of origin, very difficult.
Residence permits are expensive. Normally, visas obtained legally outside Gabon from consumer representatives, are not definitely valid until they have been stamped by the general documentation department in Libreville, an independent body which is not directly answerable to the ministry of foreign affairs. Someone from Cameroon would therefore spend 35,000 CFA francs for an entry visa to Gabon, 496,000 CFA francs for a residence permit and 100,000 CFA francs to renew it every year. Someone from Benin would pay 592,000 CFA francs for a residence permit and would negotiate the price of an exit visa at around 50,000 CFA francs.
Paul Etondi, 30, a Cameroon citizen born in Port-Gentil in Gabon where he has lived for several years, left to live in Cameroon. A few months ago, for family reasons, he tried to return to Gabon without a visa, hoping to obtain it at Libreville Airport, as some French nationals do. He had to spend 48 uncomfortable hours at the airport and take the first plane back to Douala.
«Some of my relatives were anxiously waiting for my flight. They made approaches to the airport police and border guards for authorization for me to leave the airport. One of my relatives living in Gabon offered to stand guarantor for me, and I agreed to surrender my passport and return air ticket to the police. Nothing could be done», states Etondi.
A Congolese teacher in Libreville, holder of a Gabonese residence permit and with all his papers in order, left his native Congolese town on the border of Gabon in a car to drive to Libreville. At every police roadblock and station, he had to pay, since according to the border police, his residence permit was no longer valid. «At every stage of my journey the law was different», he complained. In the capital as well, the police make many identity checks especially on buses, both night and day. These identity checks on travellers often turn out badly.
The border problem
In order to visit Cameroon or Equatorial Guinea, Gabonese have to pay 30,000 CFA francs for a visa. By comparison, a visa for the Côte d’Ivoire costs 25,000 CFA francs. French nationals are always privileged. For them, an entry visa to Gabon costs 40,000 CFA francs and a residence permit 100,000. They are not required to have an exit visa.
At the 15th ordinary session of the Council of ministers of finance of the member states of the CEEAC, held in Libreville on 15 February 2001, the ministers restated the commitment of their countries to the process of regional integration, in accordance with the political will expressed by the heads of state and government.
Further summits, organised on the 16 February 1998 in Libreville, and 24 June in Malabo, demonstrated the difficulty for central African countries in resolving the equation of regional integration.
«After creation of the Economic Community of Central African states (CEEAC), the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC), and the establishment of the Commission for the Gulf of Guinea (CGG), the leaders of member states of the Organisation of African Unity parented the birth of the African Union, in Lusaka from 9 to 11 July 2001, another grouping which will delay regional integration», commented Léon Nguimbyt, a Gabonese economist.
«And what is preventing this famous CEMAC passport from coming into circulation? It’s difficult to talk about regional integration if protectionist barriers are still in place», he adds.
No date has yet been set for removal of the visa requirements in the various countries in central Africa. It would allow deregulation of exchanges and free movement of people and goods giving a new vision for Africa.
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