AFRICAN UNION ‘AGENDA 2063’ IN VIEW OF PAN AFRICANISM: ASSESSING BOTTLENECKS OF ITS IMPLEMENTATION FROM ITS INCEPTION TO 2021

Abstract

Africa as a continent was under colonial rule for many years. Even after the decolonization of Africa in 1960s and beyond, the continent was under direct and indirect external influences. Due to this reason, the continent was not in a position to formulate and implement its own agenda to ensure its development and overcome deepening crisis and deep political and economic vulnerabilities. But interestingly this persistent situation has begun to change in the last couple of years.  In the last two decades, the time has come for the continent as its leaders initiated a plan for the continent’s development to be owned and driven by the African people themselves. With a new enthusiasm for the very idea of ‘Pan-Africanism’, it was at the 24^th Ordinary Assembly of the African Union (AU) in Addis Ababa in January 2015, that member states of AU adopted the document, ‘Agenda 2063’, which was strongly hoped as a game changer for the continent. This article has overall goals and objective of critically assessing practical challenges that agenda 2063 has been facing during its implementation (2015-2021) period. Both primary and secondary sources have been used to complete this article. Primary data were generated from key informants. On the bases of the information gathered from secondary and primary sources, the agenda has been facing two major categories of challenges during its implementation period. Limited national and continental capacity, poverty, controversy over state sovereign and peace and security issues are internal or continental level challenges while, unbalanced north south relations and globalization, global terrorism network and international financial institutions, environmental challenges/climate change and outbreak of recent covid-19 pandemic are identified as the major external or global level challenges. Implementation of Agenda 2063 demands a lot from the African union to address key challenges. Addressing the challenges require concerted efforts at national, regional and continental level.