Advancing the movement toward economic and political globalism, the African Union is moving down the path of regional economic integration, with the expected end result of continental economic and political integration.

On July 11, 2000, at the Lome Summit in Togo, the states constituting the Organization of African Unity, signed a declaration to form the 53-nation African Union.

While the African Union professes to respect the sovereignty of the individual countries constituting the group, it still has created executive, legislative, and judicial bodies required for regional government, including an African Union Executive Council, a Pan-African Parliament and an African Union Court of Justice.

And while the AU is still in a formative state, it's already officially designated by an emblem, a flag, an anthem, a central bank, and unified continental military force.

The goal of the African Central Bank is to create an African Single Currency. African Union planners are currently calling the African continental currency the "Gold Mandela."

Yet, skeptics note that the eco, a common currency designed to be issued by the West African Economic and Monetary Union is now rescheduled to be issued in July 2009, after failing to materialize through earlier efforts.

The United Nations has strongly supported the African Union as a major solution for the war, poverty, famine, and disease which have plagued the continent for decades.

Prof. Adebayo Adedeji, a former executive secretary of the U.N. Economic Commission for Africa, has observed successful economic integration in Africa will require successful political integration.

The African Union Mission in Sudan, or AMIS, is an AU military force currently operating in Sudan, attempting to play a peacekeeping mission in Darfur.

Operating under U.N. Security Council Resolution 1564, AMIS is tasked to coordinate with the U.N. Mission in Sudan.

Jendayi Frazer, U.S. State Department assistant secretary for African Affairs, testified to the House Internal Relations Committee on May 18, 2006, that strengthening AMIS is critical to the Bush administration's plan to end the genocide in Darfur.

"The United Nations is a long-standing supporter of regional integration in Africa," U.N. Deputy Secretary General Asha-Rose Mtengeti Migiro told the AU summit in Accra, Ghana, on July 1.

"We remain committed to assisting this process. We will continue to do so by helping to identify ways to accelerate integration, by monitoring the progress being made in the various regional economic communities and by supporting efforts to overcome obstacles to closer union."

Abdoulie Janneh, U.N. undersecretary general and executive secretary of the Executive Council of the African Union, addressed the Executive Council of the AU on June 28, in Accra, stating that, "Africa is once again at the crossroads."

Janneh told the council "the Great Debate on an African Union Government is very important and opportune and will enable Africa's leaders to share their vision for the future development of Africa."

"Your present debate on institutional arrangements, modalities, and time frame for the union underlines the essence of regional economic cooperation and integration for Africa's future and its ability to deal with its development challenges," Janneh said. "The United Nations is well positioned to continue its support for Africa's regional integration agenda especially in the context of the UN-AU Framework for the Ten-Year Capacity Building Program for the African Union."

As WND has previously reported, the Council of Foreign Relations has supported regional and global currencies designed to replace nationally issued currencies.

Writing in the May/June issue of Foreign Affairs, CFR economist Benn Steil called specifically for developing regional currencies in developing countries.

Steil wrote that, "In a globalizing economy, monetary stability and access to sophisticated financial services are essential components of an attractive local investment climate. And in this regard, developing countries are especially poorly positioned."

Steil's conclusion was clear, "Since economic development outside the process of globalization is no longer possible, countries should abandon monetary nationalism."