AFRICA’S first Free Trade Area (FTA) will be launched in the Zambian capital Lusaka this week despite a gloomy backdrop of civil conflict, an AIDS crisis and crippling external debt, analysts and officials said. The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa’s (COMESA) FTA, mooted 17 years ago, would be the first step towards full regional integration and a common currency by the year 2025, COMESA officials said.- Reuters