DAKAR, Senegal (PANA)�After years of a formally structured alliance, African countries are about to launch an economic and political union.

In many respects, the union that African leaders will kickstart at their annual summit in July is an ambitious undertaking. It will require much time, dedication, resources and planning to bring it about.

When distinguished statesmen, such as the late Ghanaian Kwame Nkrumah, Egypt�s Gamal Abdel Nasser and Tanzania�s Julius Nyerere, proclaimed Pan-Africanism in the 1960s, the rest of the world virtually ignored them.

Even at home, the idea was mainly a subject for academic debates, while the rest of the citizenry hardly got a handle on it.

To a large extent, African Union (AU) as a concept has been unfolding since the creation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in 1963, but there had been very little evidence that integration could be realized through the OAU.

This raises some fundamental questions about Africa�s pursuit of a union, free from the sway of external powers or a few wealthy member countries.

For instance: Has the OAU failed to live up to expectations? Has it completed its mission and outlived itself? Did the founding fathers of the OAU contemplate the AU but never express it publicly? Is the AU being built on shaky foundations?

The AU was conceived by the African leadership and it has so far remained their exclusive agenda.

Doubtless, there is a marked difference in style between Africa�s leadership of today and their post-independence predecessors.

One sore point is the aloofness of today�s national leaders, accused of being out of touch with the people who brought them to office. The result has been that most of the decisions reached at Summits of Heads of State and governments hardly impact on the ordinary people.

In fact, there are leaders who fail to explain complex ideas or resolutions in clear and simple language.

With global developments in the 21st Century, Africa�s political, social and economic landscape is bound to experience a monumental transformation. Countries must adjust quickly to change.

The AU�s success or failure will be judged on how it tackles war, HIV/AIDS, famine and other scourges that have afflicted much of Africa. Obviously, a starting point would be the political orientation of the grassroots about this undertaking.

Some leaders of independent Africa apparently wanted to develop regional economic communities as building blocks for a future United States of Africa, but with the passage of time this idea faded.

Though regional and sub-regional economic groupings were eventually set up, none of them have brought an economic order in its area of influence. Many are even operating like rivals, seeking to outdo each other, a situation compounded by dual membership and duplication of functions.

In 1991, African leaders ratified the treaty establishing the African Economic Community (AEC), but so far the AEC has remained largely a reference mark in OAU�s files.

Though hamstrung by lack of financial resources, Africa�s approach to integration has not been clear-cut, and therefore requires a radical change. The citizens should be taken along in the formulation and implementation of the programs of the economic communities to strengthen the AU.

The fundamental issue is for Africa to ride out its present economic storm before jumping on the bandwagon of political integration.

The AU on its own, may not reverse economic stagnation or slowdown prevalent in Africa, but its real strength would lie in the strong economies of its members.

For the politicians, this is the time to utilize the skills of African professionals, who must design the infrastructure to meet the development needs of the continent. Also, given the unstable world order Africans must unite through greater cooperation on trade. For instance, growers of potatoes, onions and garlic in East Africa may be surprised to learn that Senegal imports such products from Europe and China.

Intra-African trade must therefore be stepped up to boost production and reduce dependence on other continents. This is the only way to achieve continental economic and political integration.