A Union Government for Africa: Any Prophetic Implications?

The integration fever has gripped Africa. Not that this is the first time there’s talk of integration by and among Africans. But now, the ‘fever’ is more potent and palpable and zeroing in on a goal as never firmly set: A Union Government for Africa.

For three days, July 1-3, all eyes African and even non-African were fixated on Accra, Ghana’s capital, as the country played host to 52 African leaders and other continental heavyweights for a “Grand Debate on a Union Government for Africa.” The summit sought to move the African Union to a new level of continental unity: A United States of Africa under one central government.

It was an agenda that had few dissenters, if any. The only sticking point (area of divided opinion) was when it came to the timing—should steps be taken now to install the union government, or should it be deferred to a later date after more consultations?

That was when the meeting began to look like a conference of “hares and tortoises” (as the local media put it)—split into those who wanted a union government now and those who advocated a gradualist approach.

But don’t make a mistake; the agenda itself was not a subject of disagreement. It was only when a decision had to be taken on the approach and timetable that rival camps emerged.

So the agenda for a union government remains on course, and African leaders are determined to carry it through.

At the end of the summit, the leaders in a compromise move agreed to the setting up of a special committee to recommend modalities for implementing the proposed union government for Africa. The committee will submit its report to the Assembly of Heads of States and Governments (the AU’S highest decision-making body) in January 2008.

But what could a union government for Africa possibly have to do with Bible prophecy?

Even though there isn’t a direct reference to it in the Bible, it signals that a major end-time prophecy could be much closer than we think.

With Europe united, Africa united and Asia and America likely to follow suit, wouldn’t it be easier, a lot easier, for these integrated regions of the world to be welded into a one-world state with the antichrist as its head?

This is where Bible prophecy comes in. And that’s why we must not only watch and follow geopolitical developments in Africa, but also in other world regions.

From a global village to a global state or federation might seem farfetched from where we sit today, but it’s not completely unachievable. Smell the hint in your news: If a person accused of crime in a sovereign country can now be tried in an international court in a different country and most likely be jailed in a third country (also under international law), then we are half there.

Bible prophecy is spot-on, for it contains the words of the Almighty none of whose words shall fail (Isa. 34:16). We will do well to let the words of the Eternal be our guide. Upon us are the ends of the world come (1 Cor. 10:11).