New trade pacts threaten regional unity

Last November, a handful of the 14 member states of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) chose to sign new trade deals with the European Union (EU). Those that signed the interim Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs), as they are known, did so to pre-empt the expiration of an earlier trade arrangement that had provided preferential access for some African exports into European markets. A few countries left the SADC negotiating group entirely to join other regional economic groupings that are also bargaining with the EU. The rest simply refused to sign.