REGIONAL ECONOMIC COMMUNITIES,RECs
RECs Policy Cycle to integrate the Federal State

CENSAD is, together with the African Union resulting from the Sirte Declaration of 9/9/1999, one of the biggest initiatives taken by the Libyan leader to make Africa a strategic space that counts in globalisation and reaps all its benefits. The Community stems from the need to unite all the available potential and resources of the Sahel and Sahara States in a common framework with a view to achieving common objectives. Thus, in July 2000, a few months after its creation, the AU had recognised CENSAD as a full-fledged REC, in the same way as the other five pillars of the African Economic Community.
 
CENSAD's main originality lies in the fact that it brings together most of the countries exposed to drought and aridity and to their ecological and socio-economic consequences such as desertification, land degradation, impoverishment, migration and sedentarisation. The growing insecurity in this area and the rising cost of exploiting energy and mineral resources buried in desert areas, which tend to become fossilized, increase the vulnerability of the countries concerned, which explains their enthusiasm for CENSAD.
 
The establishment of CENSAD and its rapid growth outside the traditional RECs scheme was made possible by the emergence of the African Union, which suggests the existence of close continuity between the two organizations. Moreover, CEN-SAD's expectations of the AU are higher because both transcend traditional cleavages, while NEPAD and PACT rely more on established regional blocs. Also, the capacity analysis will start from the links between the RECs and CEN-SAD on the one hand and PACT on the other.
 
Drought awareness and aridity as a global threat is the main driver of CEN-SAD's growth. The upgrading of the new RECs (UEMOA, CEMAC) and the sectoral RECs went through the accession of most of the member countries to CENSAD strengthening its audience with the AU at a time when WBU was paralysed.
 
Despite the scale of the scourges facing CENSAD member countries, the latter Community is not yet formally involved in the implementation of the PACT. This is reflected in the absence of initiatives and projects under its own label or in partnership like other RECs and beyond, insignificant involvement in the process that led to NEPAD and PACT. This situation is all the more paradoxical as CENSAD weighs more than all the other RECs combined and covers the area where infrastructure investments are most vital for the survival of the continent.