Exploring the effectiveness of African trade dispute resolution mechanisms within the African Continental Free Trade Area

Abstract

As intra-African trade deepens under an increasingly complex web of regional and continental trade agreements, the effectiveness of dispute resolution mechanisms has become a decisive factor in sustaining economic integration, legal certainty, and investor confidence across the continent. Effective dispute resolution mechanisms are central to the credibility and success of regional and continental trade regimes.

This mini-dissertation critically examines the legal frameworks, institutional design, and practical operation of dispute settlement mechanisms within African trade agreements, with particular focus on the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) such as the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). The study will analyse the legal frameworks governing these mechanisms, evaluate their practical effectiveness, and interrogate the institutional, political, and legal challenges that constrain their operation. By adopting a comparative and doctrinal approach, supplemented by selected case studies, the dissertation assesses the extent to which these dispute settlement systems promote compliance, predictability, and rule-based economic integration across the continent.

This research study will assess the extent to which these mechanisms are capable of resolving trade-related disputes in a manner that is predictable, accessible, and enforceable, while remaining sensitive to the political, economic, and developmental realities of African states. It questions both formal adjudicatory systems, such as regional courts and tribunals, as well as alternative dispute resolution approaches, evaluating their contribution to compliance, rule-based trade governance, and confidence among state and non-state actors. In doing so, the dissertation engages critically with scholarly perspectives, including those of Emilia Onyema, who observes that as trade flows between African countries expand, the likelihood and complexity of legal and commercial disputes inevitably increase.

The structure of these mechanisms will be interrogated to determine their accessibility to state and non-state actors, and their effectiveness in resolving trade-related disputes in a timely, predictable, and enforceable manner. Through a comparative doctrinal analysis, the dissertation evaluates the consistency of dispute settlement rules across these regimes, their alignment with international trade law principles, and their responsiveness to Africa’s unique political, economic, and developmental realities. Due consideration is given to the lived experience of dispute resolution in Africa, including jurisdictional uncertainty, compliance challenges, institutional capacity constraints, and the tension between political diplomacy and legal adjudication.

The research further examines the role of dispute resolution mechanisms in enhancing investor confidence and legal certainty, particularly in a context characterised by overlapping memberships, divergent legal traditions, and uneven institutional capacities among RECs. While African trade agreements increasingly mirror international best practices in dispute settlement design, this study reveals persistent gaps between normative frameworks and actual implementation, including limited access to dispute fora, political interference, weak enforcement of decisions, and jurisdictional fragmentation. Detailed case studies will be utilized to examine the accessibility of these mechanisms to state and non-state actors, and evaluate their alignment with global standards such as the World Trade Organization (WTO) Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU). The dissertation concludes with policy recommendations for harmonisation and institutional reform.

Assessing dispute resolution mechanisms under these particularised trade agreements is necessary because effective dispute settlement lies at the core of any credible trade regime. Without functional, predictable, and enforceable mechanisms, trade liberalisation commitments risk remaining aspirational rather than legally operative. By critically analysing these mechanisms under specific African trade agreements, the dissertation seeks to illuminate how legal certainty, investor confidence, and trust between member states are either strengthened or undermined in practice. In doing so, the study demonstrates that effective dispute resolution is a precondition for deepened economic integration, the credibility of trade commitments, and the long-term sustainability of the AfCFTA. This dissertation seeks to demonstrate that the success of African economic integration, especially under the AfCFTA, depends not only on market access provisions but also on the coherence, legitimacy, and effectiveness of its dispute resolution architecture. Dispute settlement mechanisms do more than resolve individual conflicts; they shape the integrity of the entire integration project. By identifying systemic shortcomings and areas of convergence and divergence among REC and continental mechanisms, the study contributes to ongoing debates on reform, harmonisation, and the development of a robust African trade law system capable of supporting sustainable economic growth and integration.