A Critique of Article 96 of the Cotonou Agreement: Implications for Zimbabwe and the Global South

By Amandla Wadzingaire

The Cotonou Agreement was first signed in 2000 in Cotonou, Benin between the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries and the European Union (EU); it is the predecessor to Lomé Agreement I, II,III, IV and Lomé IV bis. The transition from the Lomé Conventions to the Cotonou Agreement involved more than just a change of name. The Cotonou Agreement provides a number of innovative approaches to cooperation regarded as the three pillars, which aim to address more effectively trade cooperation, development cooperation and political cooperation of the ACP countries. Zimbabwe is a signatory to this Agreement as part of its pursuance of its national interests in support of the North-South cooperation development agenda.  

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Unlike its predecessor, the Lomé Agreements which were essentially trade and economic cooperation agreements; the Cotonou Agreement, expanded the ACP-EU cooperation into the political sphere, explicitly giving cognisance to issues of governance and respect for human rights as inseparable from economic development. This political aspect of the agreement was further strengthened, particularly through Article 96. Article 96 of the Cotonou Agreement spells out that; 

‘essential elements regarding human rights, democratic principles, rule of law, and fundamental elements regarding good governance……is obligatory to member states and appropriate measures are to be taken where necessary when flouted.’ 

With its emphasis on political cooperation as one of its major pillars, the Cotonou Agreement supportsthe respect for human rights, democratic principles and the rule of law that both parties are committed to respect as enshrined in Article 96 of the agreement. Article 96 also has the scope for monitoring ACP member states democratisation processes and reforms to improve governance. 

One of the pillars of the political cooperation aspect between the two blocs allows suspending aid in cases of repeated violations of human rights and Article 96authorises sanctions in cases where political dialogue fails. This has been used regularly by the EU as a response to coups d’états, election violence or violations of human rights in Fiji Islands (2000 and 2007), Zimbabwe (2002), the Central African Republic (2003), Guinea-Bissau (2004 and 2011), Togo (2004), Madagascar (2020) and Burundi (2015). Despite the above, certain provisions of the Article 96 on political cooperation have never been applied, for instance in the context were sexual and reproductive rights is mentioned, the issue constitutes a real weakness of the partnership agreement. In Africa, rights of the LGBT community have not been fully recognised; it is a conversation that multiple African states do not wish to engage in particular.

Furthermore, Article 96 of the Cotonou Agreement provides for initiating trade restrictions, export and import bans as part of its appropriate measures on the third pillar of political cooperation. Zimbabwe, together with Burundi are among the countries that were put under economic sanctions and trade bans by the EU for bad governance and abuse of human rights especially during elections. For several years this has affected Zimbabwe and Burundi’s trade relations with the other ACP and EU member states, thereby failing to fully exploit the benefits of the Cotonou Agreement.

A major critique of the Cotonou Agreement is the framework’s suitability to tackle the current challenges facing the global world, the Agreement does not make provisions to respond to the dynamicchallenges that the world is grappling with, which include; the COVID 19 pandemic, Africa’s resource wars, migration, refugee situation and the fight against global warming and climate change. The Cotonou Agreement also does not address the challenges of achieving the Agenda 2063 framework for Africa in particular and the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in general.

As such, the major critique of the Cotonou Agreement among development economists is that it is structured like a classical model for development;yet it is a tool for exploitation and does not effectively offer solutions to challenges affecting the global South cooperation with the global North. As such, it is this paper’s conclusion that the Cotonou Agreement cannot address the challenges of the ACP member countries effectively, despite the addition of a political pillar to the Agreement as enshrined in Article 96 of the Cotonou Agreement.

Writer: Amandla Wadzingaire – University of Zimbabwe Masters Student studying towards a Masters in International Trade and Diplomacy (MITD) with the Department of Politics and Governance, UZ, 2021.— 

Zimbabwe’s Economic Trajectory on a Recovery Path

By Simba Manhango | Guest Editor

THE Zimbabwean economy trajectory is heading towards a recovery this year and could strengthen further in 2022, amid the challenges posed on the economy by natural disasters and the Global Covid-19 pandemic, a report by the World Bank has revealed.  

The report, the Zimbabwe Economic Update (ZEU) published last month (June 2021) anticipates that the country will experience improved but muted growth in 2021, as global uncertainty remains a risk; but expects this growth to accelerate in 2022,as the adverse impacts of the pandemic subside with the increased deployment of vaccines (such as the ongoing vaccination programme in Zimbabwe) that has so-far been recorded as the most successful in Southern Africa.The report also contains recommended actions to Government that,if sustained will keep the current positive trends on an upward trajectory. 

The report initially acknowledges that Zimbabwe’s economy by 2019 was already in a deep recession. It highlights that a severe drought and Cyclone Idai significantly reduced economic activity and particularly affected the agriculture,water and electricity sectors while generating ripple effects on other sectors such as manufacturing and mining. The report also highlights that in early 2020,the outbreak of Covid-19 further exacerbated country challenges dampening prospects of economic recovery at both global and local levels. 

More importantly, the report underlines that the agricultural sector is expected to spearhead Zimbabwe’s economic recovery and favourable rainfall witnessed in 2020 is also expected to drive a growth of the agricultural sector by 9.1% in 2021. The GDP is expected to reach 3.9% this  year,a significant improvement compared to 2020. The report also projected an enhanced economic recovery that will  strengthen further in 2022 with the GDP growth anticipated to reach a whopping 5.1 % as the ongoing deployment of vaccines intensifies; global economic conditions improve; and the succesfull implementation of the recently approved National Development Strategy (NDS1 2021-2025) by the Government. 

The report by the World Bank also signaled  Zimbabwe’s economic recovery and  growth in other sectors including Tourism,Trade, Service Delivery as well as improved water and electricity generation. The report alluded that the major growth in the Agricultural sector, one of the key drivers of the economy would be aided by the favourable rains that the country witnessed  in 2020,but also indicated that this sector would remain vulnerable to other shocks such as climate change. The report noted the need to address more urgently the broader and structural constraints to Agriculture productivity such as insecure tenure,lack of adequate irrigation,insufficient crop divesification,and unaffordable inputs like seeds and fertilizers as they continue to limit the sectors potential and increase its vulnerability to climate shock. 

The report also tipped the Service delivery sector to record a growth of 2 % in 2021 and to reach 5.3 percent in 2022. At the same time,the report lauded the efforts by Government to stabilize prices through prudent fiscal policy and rules-based monetary and exchange rate policies that the World Bank observe  have been effective and must be continued to enhance confidence and improve macroeconomic conditions. 

The report also underlined the importance of reforming quality service delivery as an urgent priority ,particularly in the social sectors noting  that as the third wave continues to ravage the country causing many deaths, priority interventions included, ensuring adequate access to the 2021 budget allocation for the Covid-19 response as well as to restore access to essential health services in the country and to ensure that the health services personnel are provided with the necessary resource to improve service delivery. 

The World Bank report also noted that the necessary measures that Goverment needed to implement to support economic growth included the reducing of regulatory burden and policy inconsistencies ,reduce barriers to regional trade and strengthen trade facilitation and to discontinue forex retention policies. 

On the fiscal side,in addition to measures to improve revenue collection ,stringent fiscal policies by Government are required to reduce distortive spending and the need to redirect resources where they are most needed including to ensure delivery of basic social services and reestablish human capital. 

While,the report anticipates Zimbabwe’s economy recovery to be in a positive upward trajectory than in preceeding years, the World Bank also noted a series of challenges that the country could face with regards to achieving growth. The reported noted that Government’s ability to respond to the adverse impacts caused by Covid-19  on the economy is being constrained by the country’s limited access to consensual sources of financing. External debt arrears that reached 78% of External Public Debt in 2020 have prevented Zim from benefitting from International Financing Institutions (IFIs). Zimbabwe has been sorely depending on relief aid  and assistance provided by China.

Of late the last 3 decades have witnessed the  strengthening of Trade Relations between China and Africa with trade between China and Africa projected to be over $200billion per year, with China having atleast 10 000 owned firms on the continent. In fact, China has found a  deliberate global economic strategy to fill the vacuum created by Breton Woods institution who had a lot of African Countries including Zimbabwe  under Western Sanctions or high borrowing risk status.

According to the report, the effects of the third wave and a possible fourth wave could weigh in heavily on the recovery of domestic and external demand. Despite positive steps taken to stabilize prices,inflation is expected to remain significant in 2021,subduing efforts to stabilize and unify the exchange rate in the medium term. 
Domestic demand is also projected in the report to remain low as income will remain subdued to keep productivity and competitiveness low in some sectors of the economy.

 However, the report stresses the fact that despite the challenges that could be faced, implementation of key policy reforms outlined in the recently approved NDS1 will be a priority if Zimbabwe is to achieve the much needed economic recovery in the context of a global crisis.

UN reports 3,600 cases of sexual violence over four years in Congo

By Masimba Biriwasha | Global Editor At Large | @ChiefKMasimba| April 15, 2014

Rape and sexual violence remain widespread in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) with more than 3,600 victims registered between January 2010 and December 2013, according to a new report by the UN Joint Human Rights Office in the DRC (UNJHRO) .

South Africa Dominates African Twitterverse

By Masimba Biriwasha | Global Editor At Large | @ChiefK.Masimba | April 14, 2014

Africa’s richest country, South Africa, dominated conversation on the social networking platform, Twitter, while football was the most discussed topic in the last quarter of 2013 according to a recent study.

U.N. Security Council Approves Central Africa Republic Peacekeeping Mission

The United Nations (U.N.) Security Council last week approved the establishment of a nearly 12,000-strong United Nations peacekeeping operation to protect civilians and facilitate humanitarian access in Central African Republic (CAR) which has been gripped by violent conflict since December 2012.

Willom Tight in New Musical Wave

By Chief K.Masimba Biriwasha | Global Editor At Large | @ChiefKMasimba |March 29, 2014

Ahhhh, yes. Finally, Zimbabwean musician, Willom Tight has decided to show the world what he is really made of.

Google Chairman, Eric Schmidt on Women in Tech

During a public talk held recently in Washington DC, Google Chairman, Eric Schmidt, said that the impression that the tech industry advances minorities and women is because the hidden biases that drive white male behavior are difficult to hide in the tech industry.

Africa’s Web Potential Requires Content

By Chief K.Masimba Biriwasha | Global Editor At Large | @ChiefKMasimba | March 13, 2014

According to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), content from sub-Saharan Africa is lacking, when measured by the number of Internet servers on the continent compared to other regions.

Google Glass: Computer in your Eye

By Chief K.Masimba Biriwasha | Global Editor At Large | @ChiefKMasimba | March 13, 2014

My first encounter with Google Glass came on a Thursday in March when I responded to a call for a demonstration of the wearable device at the University of Maryland’s McKeldin Library. Yitzy Paul, the tech sherpa, wore the glass beaming and explaining everything that he was doing on a large television screen.

“I think it’s pretty great. It’s a really interesting device. It puts the computer at your face which is something that you don’t usually have. It helps with ease of use. When I’m in a meeting it’s really inappropriate to look down at your phone when you get an email et cetera but its perfectly fine when its in your line of sight,” he said.

What the Heck is Right to Privacy?

By Chief K.Masimba Biriwasha | OpEd

THAT the individual shall have full protection in person and in property is a principle as old as the common law; but it has been found necessary from time to time to define anew the exact nature and extent of such protection. – Harvard Law Review, 1890

I was listening to music on the web recently when I felt a sudden jolt  that someone could be snooping on me. Through some mass metadata collection effort, they were making a list of all the music I listen to in order to make a character sketch of me. It was a rather odd feeling that rose inside of me. Not that I was listening to anything out of this world. Being online, of course is exposing oneself.  On another thought, just think of how the mobile phone is like your personal address all wrapped up with information about who you are.

I think technology’s reach into our lives needs to be framed within the context of both its potential and what it is taking away, and not simply hailed as the harbinger of progress.

Against the background of NSA’s Edward J Snowden’s revelations of mass government surveillance programs last June, I don’t think I will ever go online without imagining that my right to privacy is being violated. However, most of the time, I just ignore it and do what I have to do. I’m a digital native after all.