ICCA congratulates the newly-launched African Arbitration Association

ICCA extends its warm congratulations to the initiators and newly-elected Board of the African Arbitration Association (to be known as AfAA). Launched in Abidjan, Ivory Coast on 29 June 2018, AfAA aims to promote African arbitration and African arbitrators, and to coordinate activities regarding capacity-building, technical assistance and the provision of online resources on the continent.

The launch of AfAA is the culmination of several years’ preparatory work by ICCA and other organizations and individuals. The vision of creating a pan-African arbitral association received a boost through a series of Consultative Workshops for African Arbitral Initiatives hosted by ICCA and organized by the ICCA Bureau, first initiated at the ICCA Congress in Mauritius in May 2016 and followed by Workshops in Cairo, Abuja and Kigali in 2017 and 2018. Strong support was provided by ICCA Governing Board Members Judge Abdulqawi Yusuf (current President of the ICJ), prominent Lagos-based practitioner Olufunke Adekoya, and immediate past Director of the Cairo Arbitration Centre (CRCICA) Mohamed Abdel Raouf, as well as ICCA Executive Director Lise Bosman (all African nationals). ICCA is proud to have contributed to the formation of AfAA, and looks forward to cooperating with AfAA on projects of mutual interest.

AfAA will be based in Kigali, Rwanda, and will hold its first General Assembly in early April 2019. For more details about AfAA and its office-holders, please visit www.africanarbitrationassociation.org. For more details about ICCA’s Working Group on African Arbitral Practice, visit the project page.

Pictured above: AfAA Board of Directors first meeting held in Abidjan, June 2018. From left to right: Njeri Kariuki, Rukia Baruti, Julius Nkafu, Lise Bosman, Gaston Kenfack Douajni, Bayo Ojo and Fidele Masengo.