The African Civil Aviation Commission (AFCAC; , CAFAC) is an agency of the

African Union The African Union (AU) is a continental union of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa. The AU was announced in the Sirte Declaration in Sirte, Libya, on 9 September 1999, calling for the establishment of the African Union. The b ...

headquartered in

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Senegal, largest city of Senegal. The Departments of Senegal, department of Dakar has a population of 1,278,469, and the population of the Dakar metropolitan area was at 4.0 mill ...

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

. The purpose is to assist member states with a framework to discuss and plan the coordination, cooperation, development, and regulation of

civil aviation Civil aviation is one of two major categories of flying, representing all non-military and non-state aviation, which can be both private and commercial. Most countries in the world are members of the International Civil Aviation Organization and ...

in Africa. AFCAC is the executing agency of the Single African Air Transport Market, which implements the Yamoussoukro Decision. Their cooperation with the

International Civil Aviation Organization The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, and fosters the planning and development of international sch ...

includes promoting the application of their

Standards and Recommended Practices Standards And Recommended Practices (SARPs) are technical specifications adopted by the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in accordance with Article 37 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation in order to achi ...

. The agency receives administrative and financial assistance from

ICAO The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, and fosters the planning and development of international sch ...

and has also gotten funding from the

African Development Bank The African Development Bank Group (AfDB, also known as BAD in French) is a multilateral development finance institution, headquartered in Abidjan, Ivory Coast since September 2014. The AfDB is a financial provider to African governments and ...

. many states did not pay their membership dues and 90% of AFCAC's income was spent on salaries and administrative costs.

History

The AFCAC was founded on 17 January 1969 in

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; ,) is the capital city of Ethiopia, as well as the regional state of Oromia. With an estimated population of 2,739,551 inhabitants as of the 2007 census, it is the largest city in the country and the List of cities in Africa b ...

, Ethiopia during a Conference called by the

and the

Organisation of African Unity The Organisation of African Unity (OAU; , OUA) was an African intergovernmental organization established on 25 May 1963 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with 33 signatory governments. Some of the key aims of the OAU were to encourage political and ec ...

(now the

). It was initially approved provisionally until 12 January 1972 when 20 States had ratified the constitution. Currently all but one African state have since ratified the constitution. In 1988 African Aviation Ministers met in

Yamoussoukro Yamoussoukro (; , locally ) is the capital city of Ivory Coast and an autonomous district. As of the 2014 census, Yamoussoukro is the fifth most populous city in the Ivory Coast, with a population of 212,670. Located north-west of Abidjan, the ...

to outline the future of the African Aviation Industry. This would later be known as the

Declaration. 10 years later ministers would meet again to elaborate and finalize the

Declaration, later known as the Yamoussoukro Decision. By removing restrictions on traffic rights, capacity and frequency, the Yamoussoukro Decision sought to liberalize African air transport markets. The Yamoussoukro Decision was adopted by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government in July 2000, and has precedence over any and all agreements between states. In 2001 a revised constitution was adopted, and later in 2009 a new constitution was adopted by the AFCAC. The new constitution would take effect April 2021 and states who had not ratified it would lose their membership to the AFCAC.

Mission & Objectives

The AFCAC's mission statement: "We facilitate cooperation and coordination among African States towards the development of integrated and sustainable Air transport systems; and foster the implementation of

SARPs." The objectives of the AFCAC are: # Develop, coordinate, and maintain a strong

Aviation Safety Aviation safety is the study and practice of managing risks in aviation. This includes preventing aviation accidents and incidents through research, educating air travel personnel, passengers and the general public, as well as the design of airc ...

system and culture. # Encourage the adoption of a common Air Traffic Management system. # Identify, monitor, and mitigate safety risks to

. # All safety related disciplines will work towards implementing safety management system. # The implementation of

provisions and SARPs - Standards and Recommended Practices. # Coordination of all

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

. # Cooperate between other organization related to the development of

. # Promote exchange of safety related information between African states. # Upgrade of

air safety Aviation safety is the study and practice of managing risks in aviation. This includes preventing aviation accidents and incidents through research, educating air travel personnel, passengers and the general public, as well as the design of airc ...

related systems. # Reduce the African accident rate from 8.6 to 2.5 per million departures. # African-Indian Ocean Cooperative Inspectorate Scheme (AFI-CIS) was established to assist States address Safety oversight related concerns.

Structure

The AFCAC is structured with three organs, The Plenary, The Bureau, and The Secretariat. Each of these has unique powers and duties. The Plenary is the most powerful of the three and is composed of member states. It meets every three years to discuss issues areas such as elections, appointments, policy approvals, and enforcement of rules. When The Plenary concludes it produces a report on their meeting, and specifically the progress of the implementation of the Yamoussoukro Decision to an Executive Council. The Bureau is a body elected by and reporting to The Plenary, composed of the current president and five vice presidents, one from each region established by the

. As the administrative organ of the AFCAC, it is responsible for organizing the Plenary's sessions, implementing decisions and resolutions set-fourth by The Plenary, and supervising The Secretariat. The Bureau may also be given other directives by the Plenary. The Secretariat is composed of officials appointed by The Plenary and headed by the Secretary General. Included in the Secretariat are: Corporate Services, Safety and Technical Services,

Air Transport Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' include fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air aircraft such as hot ai ...

, and the Office of The Secretariat General. One key role of The Secretariat is ensuring resolutions and decisions of The Plenary are implemented. Additional functions of The Secretariat include day to day operations including but not limited to: budgets, revenue collection, work programs, strategic objectives, projects, activities, and staffing.

Current Leadership

* President of the Bureau: Silas Udahemuka * Vice President, Central Region: François Edly Follot * Vice President, Eastern Region: Emile Arao * Vice President, Northern Region: Abdoulaye Ngaïde * Vice President, Southern Region: Andile Mtetwa-Amaeshi * Vice President, Western Region: Colonel-major Hamadou Ousseini Ibrahim * AFCAC AFI Group coordinator: Engr. Mahmoud Sani Ben Tukur * Secretary General: Adefunke Adeyemi

Members

To become a member state of the African Civil Aviation Commission, states must either be a member of the

or the Economic Community of African States (ECA). Currently all but one member of the AU are members of the AFCAC, all of which are listed below.

Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), also known as the Sahrawi Republic and Western Sahara, is a partially recognized state in the western Maghreb, which claims the non-self-governing territory of Western Sahara, but controls only ...

is currently the only recognized member of the

not in the AFCAC.

References

External links

*
African Civil Aviation Commission Constitution (AFCAC)

Revised Constitution of the African Civil Aviation Commission
{{African Union, state=collapsed Civil aviation authorities in Africa African Union Organisations based in Senegal