Newsaero

Regional integration is legally defined as the establishment of a normative and institutional framework enabling several sovereign States to coordinate their policies and to transfer certain competences to common organs. It is grounded in international treaties that set forth the objectives, principles, and mechanisms of cooperation among Member States. In Africa, and particularly in the field of air transport, regional integration lies at the heart of the continent’s ambitions for economic development and enhanced mobility.

The Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM), launched by the African Union in January 2018, appears as a central instrument of integration, designed to liberalize African skies by removing non-physical barriers between States. Yet, this initiative encounters persistent legal and institutional fragmentation, understood as the coexistence of multiple, sometimes contradictory or uncoordinated, norms and institutions within the same legal space. Such fragmentation undermines the coherence, effectiveness, and unity of the applicable legal order, particularly within Regional Economic Communities (RECs) such as CEMAC.