In an era where globalisation is tearing down walls once deemed inviolable, the concept of free movement stands as a keystone of modern integration. The European Union’s Schengen Area offers over 400 million people the liberty to move across 26 countries without passport checks, dramatically enhancing trade, tourism, and labour exchange. ASEAN, through the ASEAN Economic Community Blueprint 2025, is inching toward deeper regional integration by easing professional mobility and facilitating visa policies. These global models serve as a blueprint for Africa, showing how the dismantling of restrictive borders can become a powerful engine for growth, resilience, and unity.
Despite lofty goals, Africa’s journey toward free movement is starkly limited. As of early 2025, only four of the African Union’s 55 member states, Mali, Niger, Rwanda, and São Tomé and Príncipe, have ratified the Protocol on Free Movement of Persons, well below the 15-ratification threshold for activation. This slow uptake stalls the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which seeks to elevate intra-African trade, currently stagnating at around 15% of the continent’s total trade against 70% in Europe and 59% in Asia, as reported in the 2024 African Trade Report by Afreximbank.
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The picture darkens further with data from the 2024 Africa Visa Openness Index, which shows that only a handful of countries like Benin, Gambia, Rwanda, and Seychelles offer visa-free access to all Africans. Meanwhile, African citizens face more travel restrictions within their continent than visitors from Europe or North America, a paradox that cripples commerce, education, and inter-regional cooperation.
The AU’s Protocol on Free Movement of Persons, adopted in 2018, is a linchpin of Agenda 2063’s broader vision of “an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa”. It proposes a three-phase implementation, starting with visa abolition, followed by the right of residence and the right of establishment. This is underpinned by several key frameworks: the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (1981), which codifies the right to free movement; the Migration Policy Framework for Africa (MPFA, 2018); the AU Labour Migration Action Plan (2018–2030); and the Kampala Convention (2009) for protecting internally displaced persons.
These legal instruments are not decorative but foundational. They mandate state compliance with regional human rights norms, socio-economic harmonisation, and the implementation of migration governance mechanisms. The AU’s Digital Transformation Strategy (2020–2030) also offers a technological backbone through biometric passports, e-visas, and smart border management to actualise seamless mobility while maintaining security.
Country and Regional Snapshots
Rwanda has become a model, allowing visa-on-arrival for all African nationals. Its progressive policy has enhanced its status as a conferencing and investment hub. In 2024, it hosted policymakers from seven AU states to discuss fast-tracking protocol implementation, demonstrating that political will and capacity building are inseparable from success.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), established in 1975, is Africa’s most successful free movement zone. Ninety-seven per cent of intra-ECOWAS routes are visa-free, helping drive significant labour mobility and economic integration. Its 1979 Protocol on Free Movement of Persons, Residence and Establishment laid the groundwork for the kind of pan-African policy the AU is now trying to universalise.
Kenya’s 2024 announcement of visa-free access for all African nationals aligns with President William Ruto’s bold Pan-African vision. In the East African Community (EAC), the rollout of an East African e-passport represents an ambitious step toward regional coherence.
Colonial Carvings and Enduring Divides
Africa’s borders remain haunted by the legacy of the 1884–85 Berlin Conference, which etched boundaries without regard for ethnic, linguistic, or historical ties. Over 70% of African borders bisect culturally unified communities. This colonial demarcation has led to identity fragmentation, simmering cross-border tensions, and rigid border policies that hinder intra-African integration.
Unlike Europe, where treaties emerged organically from historical unions, African states inherited artificial constructs enforced by colonial decree. This historical burden still influences policy decisions on immigration and security, often emphasising sovereignty over solidarity.
Obstacles on the Road to Integration
Security anxieties, including fears of terrorism, trafficking, and transnational crime, continue to dominate national discourse. These concerns, while valid, often mask more profound issues of governance, xenophobia, and uneven development. Countries with stronger economies fear being overwhelmed by migrants from less stable neighbours. Others cite fragile infrastructure, overstretched public services, and a lack of standardised border protocols as reasons for reluctance.
Disparate policies among regional economic communities (RECs) like SADC, AMU, and IGAD hinder a continent-wide strategy. The AU’s principle of “variable geometry” permits incremental adoption, but without harmonised legal and operational frameworks, it risks entrenching division. ,
Building the Africa We Want
To translate vision into action, Africa must bridge rhetoric with reality. First, political will must be galvanised through binding commitments, peer reviews, and continental scorecards. The AU’s African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) can assess progress, spotlight laggards, and incentivise compliance.
Second, public education is vital. Civil society, academia, and the media must champion the economic and social dividends of mobility. Third, AU member states should invest in infrastructure, roads, rail, air connectivity, and digital borders under the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA).
Moreover, leveraging digital solutions such as the AU’s planned continental biometric ID system and harmonised civil registration protocols will ensure that free movement does not mean uncontrolled borders but rather managed mobility. Finally, drawing from successful blocs like ECOWAS and countries like Rwanda offers a practical playbook for others.
The Stakes Are Continental
Africa is projected to host a population of 2.5 billion by 2050, with 60% under the age of 25. Ensuring this demographic can move freely for jobs, education, and innovation is not optional; it’s essential. The IOM’s 2024 World Migration Report notes that over 40 million Africans currently live outside their country of birth, many moving within the continent. Migration is, therefore, a development tool, not a crisis.
Restrictive visa policies, inadequate infrastructure, and fragmented policy regimes threaten to turn Africa’s potential into peril. The global trend toward integration must inspire urgency, not apathy, in Africa. If the continent remains fragmented, it risks marginalising its youth, its economy, and its place in the world order.
Africa must stop tracing the contours of colonial cartography and start drawing its own lines of destiny. The AU’s Protocol on Free Movement is not merely a legal text; it is a continental call to action. From the corridors of Addis Ababa to the streets of Accra, from Kigali’s progressive policies to Nairobi’s Pan-African vision, the future of African integration hinges on dismantling barriers and building bridges.
This is the moment to redraw the map, not in the interests of empire, but in service of Africa’s people. Not with ink and fences, but with infrastructure, policy, and political courage. The question is no longer whether Africa can afford free movement but whether it can afford to delay it any longer.
