Africa & International Arbitration: Untold Stories | The Reading List

Stories from national courts to an international audience

The ICCA Yearbook Commercial Arbitration compiles arbitration-related decisions from national courts around the world, providing access to case law that would otherwise remain difficult to find.

Several featured decisions from African jurisdictions predate accession to international frameworks like the New York Convention but still reflect a pro-enforcement approach. In 1965, for example, the High Court of Ghana granted enforcement of an award rendered in Czechoslovakia, interpreting the reciprocity reservation in Ghanaian law narrowly. In The Seychelles, the Court of Appeals changed its earlier position by registering two UK orders enforcing an ICC award, despite having refused enforcement of the same award five years earlier due to the country’s non-accession to the Convention at the time.

The Yearbook also highlights early interpretations of the Convention. In 1977, one year after South Africa joined the Convention, a court in the Transvaal Provincial Division ruled on the enforcement of a London-seated award under the rules of the Fédération Internationale du Commerce des Semences.

More recent decisions from Egypt, Kenya, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria and Tanzania (2015–2022) show a growing and diverse arbitration caseload, with courts increasingly applying the Convention to foreign awards.

An Africa-focused update to the Yearbook will follow the Kigali conference, featuring new decisions from Kenya, Mauritius, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, and Uganda.

Glimpses from behind the curtain of confidentiality

Since 2023, the ICCA Awards Series publishes anonymised arbitral awards, offering a glimpse into arbitral reasoning and outcomes while preserving the confidentiality of cases.

The latest additions to the collection include awards rendered under the auspices of Africa-based institutions such as the Cairo Regional Centre for International Commercial Arbitration (CRCICA) and the Arbitration Foundation of Southern Africa (AFSA).

These cases span a range of commercial disputes. One case involves a Japanese contractor and an Egyptian state entity in a dispute over an agreement to install supplies at a plant under construction in Egypt. Another concerns a supply contract dispute marked by allegations of corruption, intimidation, and economic duress. A third case turns on the interpretation of the FIDIC Client/Consultant Model Services Agreement 2006 in connection with a Namibian infrastructure project.

Each award draws attention to different elements of how arbitration is practiced in African contexts and highlights the important role of African arbitral institutions in administering complex cross-border disputes.

The Series will soon include eight additional anonymised awards and related decisions from CRCICA, expanding the scope of accessible arbitral materials from the region.

Arbitration stories beyond cases

The ICCA International Handbook on Commercial Arbitration provides detailed, country-specific commentaries on national arbitration laws and practice. Each chapter is written by local experts and reviewed for accuracy and currency, serving as a practical guide for navigating arbitration laws across the continent and also as a record of legal development and reform. Chapters reflect how jurisdictions are adapting international standards, integrating regional priorities, and building domestic capacity.

The Handbook brings attention to the legal architecture behind arbitration in Africa: stories that go beyond awards and court decisions to include legislative choices, reform processes, and institutional design.

Currently, the Handbook contains twelve entries covering African jurisdictions, documenting how each jurisdiction is shaping arbitration on its own terms and how its laws, interpretation and practices continue to evolve in response to global and local needs.

New perspectives from the next generation

The latest edition of the Young ICCA Voices focuses on West, East, and Southern Africa. Voices provides a platform for young professionals to bring new, creative perspectives to the field. It encourages critical reflection and amplifies contributions from early-career practitioners who are actively shaping the future of arbitration.

Released ahead of the ICCA-KIAC Conference in Kigali, the third issue of Voices adopts a regional focus and engages with fresh and creative perspectives ongoing discussions about international arbitration involving the African region.

The issue interviews two leading practitioners working across African and international contexts, Sylvie Bebohi and Guled Yusuf, who reflect on building cross-border practices and handling complex state-related disputes. It also features issues central to arbitral practice in the region and beyond: arbitrator immunity in Africa-related cases, the role of anti-corruption mechanisms in arbitration, and the implications of the African Continental Free Trade Area for investment arbitration.

The blog companion to the conference

For those who will not be in Kigali in person, it is still possible to participate in the debates in our companion series in the Kluwer Arbitration blog. This ongoing series features short, accessible articles offering fresh perspectives on current developments in African arbitration.

As a companion to the Kigali conference, the blog series helps extend the discussion before, during, and after the event and ensures that new ideas and regional experiences remain visible and connected to the broader global dialogue.

Contributions to the ongoing series explore the expansion of arbitration centres across the African continent; the question of whether there is an African tradition of international arbitration; the modernization of investor-state arbitration from an African perspective; and policy questions behind the issue of arbitrator immunity.