CEMAC agreed free movement of people almost a decade ago and has a common external tariff older than most of its citizens. Its members still trade more with Europe and Asia than with each other. Why?

The Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa has six members, one currency, one central bank and a common external tariff. On paper it is the most integrated bloc on the continent. In practice, intra-regional trade remains a small fraction of total trade, far behind East and West Africa.

The obstacles are physical and political

• Roads that stop at the border. The Douala-Bangui and Douala-N’Djamena corridors carry most of the region’s landlocked trade, and both are slow, expensive and controlled by checkpoints.
• Free movement on paper. Heads of state agreed to abolish visa requirements for citizens of member states. Implementation has been uneven, and travellers still report being turned back or charged.
• Competing ports. Douala, Kribi, Pointe-Noire and Owendo compete rather than specialise.
• Divergent economies. Five oil producers and one landlocked agricultural economy have little to sell one another, which is the deepest problem of all.

What would change the picture

Three things are worth investigating: the removal of checkpoints on the main corridors, which is a measurable, enforceable reform; mutual recognition of standards, so that a food product certified in Cameroon can be sold in Gabon; and payment infrastructure, so that a trader in Bangui can pay a supplier in Douala without a foreign correspondent bank.

The comparison that stings

The African Continental Free Trade Area promises continental integration. A bloc that cannot move a truck from Douala to Bangui in less than a week will not benefit from it. Central Africa’s integration problem is not a lack of treaties. It is enforcement.