Common digital ID rules and better connectivity are on the AU agenda. The question is whether they will make cross-border business easier, reports Brendan Odoi
Keypoints:
- AU seeks common digital ID standards
- Africa’s internet divide remains wide
- Trade integration depends on trust
SELLING to a customer in another African country should be straightforward. Yet unfamiliar identity checks, unreliable internet connections and systems that do not recognise information verified at home can make even a simple transaction harder than it needs to be.
These are the problems the African Union wants to confront as experts gather in Libreville, Gabon, on Monday, October 26. Their discussions on digital identity, data-sharing and infrastructure will test whether Africa’s single-market ambitions can begin to work more smoothly for the people expected to use them.
Why shared IDs matter
Under proposals on the meeting agenda, national digital identity systems would work to common minimum standards, allowing trusted credentials to be recognised beyond the country that issued them. That could make it easier for people to prove who they are when accessing services across borders.
Crucially, the AU is not proposing one continent-wide identity card or database. Its existing digital ID framework allows countries to retain control of their systems while developing ways for them to communicate securely.
The digital divide is still vast
There is a more basic difficulty: much of Africa is still offline. The International Telecommunication Union estimates that only 36 percent of people in Africa used the internet in 2025, against a global average of 74 percent.
The gap is not just about broadband. The World Bank’s 2025 identification dataset estimates that 800 million people worldwide lacked official identification as of 2024, with more than half living in sub-Saharan Africa. Without a recognised identity, something as routine as opening an account or accessing a service can become difficult.
That is why Libreville’s agenda goes beyond ID standards. It includes digital public infrastructure, connectivity and proposals to reach rural communities, women, young people and people with disabilities. Better technology will mean little if the people who need it cannot afford or access it.
The missing link in African trade
The stakes reach into the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which is trying to make it easier for companies to do business across national borders. Traders need more than lower tariffs: they also need paperwork, payment channels and verification systems that do not create fresh delays.
Some of that work has begun. Kenya, Morocco and Nigeria have been selected to pilot a digital trade initiative, while a separate $3.1bn customs technology agreement aims to connect border systems. Neither solves the wider problem of making national services work together.
The AU’s Digital Trade Protocol sets out ambitions for common rules. But policies agreed on paper still depend on national legislation, investment and institutions willing to work together.
Trust must come before convenience
Making identity credentials easier to recognise also creates new responsibilities. Who can see the information used to verify someone? What happens if it is wrong, or if personal data are exposed? And which country is responsible when something goes wrong across a border?
AU delegates will consider draft rules for cross-border data flows, alongside cybersecurity and privacy measures. These safeguards cannot be treated as an extra feature added after the systems are built: people must be able to trust them from the outset.
Lerato Dorothy Mataboge, the AU commissioner for infrastructure and energy, said ahead of the meeting that the priority was to ‘translate continental commitments into tangible benefits for millions of Africans’.
What happens after Libreville
Experts are scheduled to meet from October 26 to 28, with ministers expected to take up the discussions later in the week. The proposed standards and roadmaps remain proposals; there is no new continent-wide digital ID regime to announce.
The real test will come after Libreville, when governments have to turn shared ambitions into services that people can use without confronting another border on their screens.