The Growth of Regional Courts and the Judicial Settlement of Inter-State Disputes in Africa

Abstract

Abstract There are currently five regional courts in the African continent: the East African Court of Justice (EACJ); the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Tribunal, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Tribunal, the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) Court of Justice, and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Court of Justice. They all came into being in the last twenty years or so. They were established under the treaties creating the five regional economic communities (RECs). Each regional economic community has, as a result, a judicial mechanism for the settlement of disputes which may arise from its founding treaty. Some of the courts also have other functions. The question arises, however, whether the multiplication of judicial institutions has led to an increased resort to the judicial settlement of inter-state disputes in Africa before African courts. This chapter will address this question as well as others relating to regional courts in Africa and the judicial settlement of disputes in the continent.