AFRICAN CONTINENTAL FREE TRADE

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) aims to enhance economic integration and intra-African trade by removing barriers to the free movement of people, services, and goods. However, the fact that there are still armed conflicts in various regions of the continent poses a serious threat to the success and achievement of this regional trade regime. This essay examines the impact of armed conflict on regional integration of trade in Africa, focusing on legal and pragmatic inconsistencies between AfCFTA and International Humanitarian Law (IHL) rules. The essay examines how conflicts impact trade corridors, infrastructure, and markets, thereby undermining the objectives of the AfCFTA. It also explores whether and how the legal orders governing trade and war (i.e., the AfCFTA Agreement and IHL treaties such as the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and Additional Protocols of 1977) interact, intersect, or conflict in practice. The essay considers the state and non-state parties' obligations under the law of hostilities, notably on the protection of civilian infrastructure related to trade and humanitarian protection.