      executive structures of the Community.92 The Treaty having entered into force on 12 May 1994, the ―cumulative transitional period‖ envisaged under Article 6(5) thereof would have been in May 2034. International Conference on Popular Participation in the Recovery and Development Process in Africa, African Charter for Popular Participation in Development and Transformation (February 1990, Arusha, Tanzania) OAU, Memorandum of Understanding, Conference on Security, Stability, Development and Co-operation in Africa (2002, Durban, South Africa) OAU, The New Partnership for Africa‘s Development (NEPAD) (2001) OAU, Solemn Declaration, Conference on Security, Stability, Development and Cooperation in Africa (2000, Lomé, Togo) OAU, Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community (1991, Abuja, Nigeria) UN, World Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development (2002, Johannesburg, South Africa) However, several decisions have been taken since that time with the aim to accelerate the formation of the AEC. For example, the Sirte Declaration 1999 called for the process to be accelerated by consolidating the RECs to form the foundation of the AEC and by shortening the implementation periods towards its completion.93 The Constitutive Act of the African Union likewise sought to move the integration agenda forward more ambitiously and aggressively. In recognition of the implied repeal of some of the provisions of the Abuja Treaty, the Constitutive Act stipulated that ‗the provisions of this Act shall take precedence over and supersede any inconsistent or contrary provisions of the Treaty establishing the African Economic Community‘.94 Translating the Abuja programme of integration to reality encountered several challenges from quite early on, perhaps the most important being the proliferation of RECs within the continent and the overlapping and multiple membership of states in the RECs. These and other standards envision an Africa of integrated markets first at the regional level and later continentally using regional economic communities (RECs) as the building blocks. This would involve the free – or increasingly freer – movement of goods, services, capital and people across African borders. Particularly since the Although there are many RECs on the continent, the AU currently recognises eight of them as ‗pillars‘ of continental integration: the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU), Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD), Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the East African Community (EAC), Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and Southern African Development Community (SADC). Every country on the continent is involved in at least one REC, with many involved in two or more. Of countries that have been reviewed through the APRM, only two – Algeria and Mozambique – are involved in only one body; each of the others operates in two, three or four. The progress made on the path of economic integration across the various RECs has been uneven. In terms of movement towards free trade areas, customs unions and common markets, the EAC, COMESA, ECOWAS and SADC appear to be moving at a faster pace than CEN-SAD, ECCAS and the AMU. conclusion of the Abuja Treaty in 1991, the overall plan has been for African integration to progress by stages towards the operationalisation of a continent-wide African Economic Community (AEC).91 In legal terms, the AEC was established through the Abuja Treaty of 1991, Article 2 of which provides: ―The High Contracting Parties hereby establish among themselves an African Economic Community (AEC).‖ Using the RECs as its building blocks, the Abuja Treaty sought to achieve a fully-fledged AEC within a maximum of 40 years from its entry into force through a process of six successive stages: (i) strengthening the continent‘s RECs; (ii) harmonising tariffs, customs etc. within RECs, and coordinating activities between the RECs; (iii) free trade areas and customs union established in each REC; (iv) coordination and harmonisation of tariff and non-tariff barriers among the various RECs with a view to continental common external tariff; (v) establish an African Common Market (ACM) with harmonised policies across the continent; and (vi) consolidating the ACM, finalising the harmonisation of the RECs, establishing a single market and monetary union, and setting up the 91 92 93 94 See OAU, Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community, Abuja, Nigeria, 3 June 1991. 29 See Abuja Treaty, Article 6. OAU, Sirte Declaration, Fourth Extraordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government, Sirte, Libya, 8-9 September 1999. OAU, Constitutive Act of the African Union, adopted by the Thirty-Sixth Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the Heads of State and Government, Lomé Togo, 11 July 2000.