Civil wars and insurgency are hampering efforts to increase cross-border trade and stimulate investment in manufacturing and add value to the continent’s mineral riches.Tralac founder Gerhard Erasmus says the objectives of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) are being directly undermined by the “wars, coups and instability that plague Africa”.“Political tension, conf lict and violence diminish the capacity of African states to engage in intra-continental trade as it leads to low levels of economic growth, destroys needed export infrastructure, and slows and reverses regional integration,” wrote Nigerian academics Dimas Garba and Wancelous Alexander in an article published by the African Journal of Politics and Administrative Studies.The African Center for Strategic Studies lists 16 African countries in various stages of conflict, which has collectively displaced 40 million people.Around 42% of the population of South Sudan has been displaced, 29% of Somalia and 22% of the Central African Republic. In the Southern African Development Community (SADC) the most affected are Mozambique (3% displaced) and the Democratic Republic of Congo (7%).There is a spillover into neighbouring states. Sudan is cited as an example, with refugees f leeing into six neighbouring countries to escape the conf lict between the Sudanese army and Rapid Support Forces.Many of the host countries are “already grappling with their own or other rounds of regional instability", according to the Center. ER
