Land of fights against colonialism, and home to coups d’état and civil wars, while today is still licking its wounds of 50 years of independence, Africa looks forward to the future retrieving old formulas hoping to see a better tomorrow.

At the beginning of July, in Accra, capital of Ghana, a pan-African ideology that was dominant in the past but soon became a dream in the drawer, could turn into reality again. The leaders of 53 states members of the African Union will discuss the origin of a Pan-African government, preparing for the birth of the United States of Africa, scheduled for 2015. A project that calls forth skepticism more than hope, but it could be the only path towards the continent emancipation.

Integration. Pan-Africanism, an ideology whose most important activist was the Ghana president Kwame Nkrumah, failed many times since 1957: both the Organization of African Union and then the African Union were not able to promote the integration of its members. Today only colonel Muhammar Gheddafi is the spokesman of an ideology unexpectedly back on the rise. “Africa’s only choice is to follow the path to integration, - Ozias Tungwarara, director of Africa Governance Monitoring and Advocacy Project, says to PeaceReporter – Then we can confront challenges like how to fight diseases and underdevelopment or to promote democracy.” Challenges that the African states were not able to win by themselves, like Gheddafi recalled on Monday during a speech at the stadium of the Guinea capital, Conakry. Sad but true, so far the African countries have been busy fighting one against the other (becoming conquering ground for the ideologies of the Cold War and for the race to raw materials) instead of thinking about its development. A handicap that the African Union, born in 2002 to promote the integration of the Continent, should have worked out but, as Wafula Okumu, political analyst of the Africa Institute for Strategic studies, says to PeaceReporter, “until now has been considered only a parking lot for politicians and bureaucrats, and this undermined its legality in the eyes of the public opinion.”

Solutions. Careless about the scarce achievements, the African Union keeps setting prohibitive goals: a 2006 report states that in three years a Pan-African government should be in charge and it should have jurisdiction on sensitive matters like foreign policy, energy and promotion of democracy.

“It’s clear that it will take time, integration is a process that can not be resolved in a night, - Brian Kagoro, expert on organizations and social movements at the African section of ActionAid, says to PeaceReporter – But it is important to talk about it seriously. Plans and institutions are there already, they are required to work better though. Besides, the progress of the European Union is also in a tight spot.”

At the Accra meeting all the problems and possible solutions will be on the table: the employment of agencies already operative (as the economic organizations Ecowas or Nepad)to be the bridgeheads for a future confederation; the option of Africa at different speeds, where some States are more integrated than others, following the European Union model. “Contrary to the EU that has standards to consider the nominations of new States, in the AU the entry is automatic and based only on geographical standards – Kwame Akonor, president of the African Development Institute of New York, lets PeaceReporter know – But the strength of the organization is not by being representative of a geography, it is instead by having a weight at geopolitical level.”

Pros and cons. If some are skeptical and remind that Africa is not ready yet to take the leap for several reasons (many states are at war or in a transition phase; the African Union needs political and financial means to bring forward such a project), others who are the promoters of the US of Africa, point out the benefits: a unique policy will help the continent to better confront the challenges of the economical globalization and military operations in the continent. Above all a unified army will save money to be channelled into branches like the development or the education. “So far many recalcitrant governments used the troubles of the African Union to avoid thornier questions (such as the transfer of some sovereignty in foreign and energy policy, ndr)- Tungwarara says – a behaviour that finally became deleterious.”

Although in this matter too something is moving on: besides the promotion of an over-national government, the African Union recently committed to review and clearly define the states borders that were arbitrarily outlined by the ex-colonial powers and provoked many problems since the after war until today.

Future. It won’t be easy to draw together 830 millions Africans. In order to succeed the governments should involve the national public opinions, so far left out of a process that seems to similar to the European Union. This is why in views of the summit in Accra, several forums have been organized in 15 countries.

“The birth of an African government can not be apart from the involvement of the citizens, the political parties, the unions and the civil society – Tungwarara resolves – otherwise it faces the risk of not meeting the people needs.”

Therefore the creation of the US of Africa will take time without warrantee of success. But who ever thought that the United States of America would have been able to govern the world in less than two centuries?