Community of Sahel-Saharan States

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

**Community of Sahel-Saharan States**
Image:CEN-SAD.png
Headquarters	Tripoli, Libya
Membership	23 member states
Official languages	? English, French, Arabic
Secretary General	Mohamed Al-Madani Al-Azhari
Established - Signed - Ratified	4 February, 1998 ?
Official website	http://www.cen-sad.org/

African Union
Image:Flag of the African Union.svg This article is part of the series: Politics and government of the African Union

Institutions of the African Union Casablanca group Union of African States Organisation for African Unity African Economic Community African Unification Front Executive Assembly Commission Chairman Conference and Events Peace & Sec. Pol. Affairs Infra. & Energy Soc. Affairs HR, Sci., & Tech. Trade and Industry Rural Econ. & Agri. Economic Legal Counsel Executive Council Rep. Committee Legislature Pan-African Parliament President Bureau Secretariat List of members Permanent Committees Rural Econ., Agri., Resources, Eviron. Monetary & Financial Trade, Customs, & Immigration Cooperation, IR, & Conflict Trans., Industry, Comm., Energy, Sci., & Tech. Health, Labour, & Social Educ., Culture, Tourism, & HR Gender, Family, Youth, Disabilities Justice & Rights Rules, Privileges, & Discipline Judiciary Sirte Declaration Constitutive Act of the AU Law Charter on Rights Court of Justice Court on Human and Peoples' Rights List of judges Advisory bodies Peace and Security Council Economic, Social, and Cultural Council Specialized Technical Committees Rural Econ., Agri. Monetary & Financial Trade, Customs, and Immigration Industry, Sci. & Tech., Energy... Transport, Comm., Tourism Health, Labor, Social Edu., Culture, & Human Resources Financial bodies AEC Pillars (Abuja Treaty) CEN-SAD COMESA EAC ECCAS/CEEAC CEMAC ECOWAS UEMOA WAMZ IGAD SADC SACU AMU/UMA African Central Bank African Monetary Fund African Investment Bank New Partnership for Africa's Development African Peer Review Mechanism Decentralised bodies Agencies of the AU AU-related topics Elections Enlargement Foreign relations
Other countries • Politics Portal view • talk • edit</div>

CEN-SAD or the Community of Sahel-Saharan States aims to create a free trade area. There are questions with regard to whether its level of economic integration qualifies it under the Enabling clause.

CEN-SAD was established in February 1998 by six countries, but since then its membership has grown to 23. One of its main goals is to achieve economic unity through the implementation of the free movement of people and goods in order to make the area occupied by member states a free trade area. At the international level, CEN-SAD gained observer status at the UN General Assembly in 2001 and concluded association and cooperation accords with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) as well as with UN specialized agencies and institutions such as UNDP, WHO, UNESCO, FAO, and the Permanent Interstate Committee of Drought Control in the Sahel.

All CEN-SAD member countries are also participating in other African economic unions, that have the aim to create a common African Economic Community. The envisioned Free Trade Area of CEN-SAD would be hard to practically implement, because it is overlapping with the envisioned Customs Unions of ECOWAS, ECCAS and COMESA and other trade blocs more advanced in their integration.