In the African continent several regional initiatives have been launched and or executed. These gave rise to three groupings: COMESA consisting of 21 countries, ECOWAS, 16 countries, and ECCAS, 11 countries. These groupings are not country-exclusive, in the sense that some countries: Burundi, D.R. Congo and Rwanda belong to more than one grouping. The three regional grouping were designed to facilitate the integration of Africa with the expectation for the establishment of “all inclusive” African Economic Union. The objective is promoting economic growth, political stability and good governance.

The paper puts this African Universe (44 countries) in the context of an all inclusive African Club (56 countries). Using data for the period 1986-2005, costs and benefits of membership are addressed in three lines of inquiry: expansion of trade, macro stability (stable inflation rate) and good governance (lower corruption scores).