Somalia may be considering joining the East African Community (EAC), just days after the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC Congo) was admitted to the regional trade bloc.
On Thursday, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, the country’s newly elected president, arrived in Arusha to attend the ongoing 22nd Ordinary East African Community Heads of State Summit, possibly to review the country’s inclusion bid, which began a decade ago.
The leader launched the bid with DRC during his first term, between 2012 and 2017, but members declined due to war and disorder in the horn of Africa nation.
The President of Somalia is in attendance as a guest, according to EAC Secretary General Peter Mathuki, who declined to provide further details.
Mohamud, who was elected president in May, was greeted by Tanzania’s Trade and Investment Minister Ashatu Kijaji and stated his intentions unequivocally.
”I am here to make a formal bid for Somalia to join the East African Community,” Mohamud said.Â
Rashid Abdi, a geopolitical expert and close ally of the new president, tweeted that Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania support the idea.
”If allowed, the accession process will take a minimum of two years,” Abdi said.
With the addition of Somalia to the regional trading bloc, the EAC will have an additional 100 million people after the addition of DRC pushed it to 92 million.
The 2020 consensus report puts the horn of Africa country’s population at 16 million.
It is also likely that the region’s combined GDP will exceed Sh30 trillion, up from Sh29 trillion after the addition of DRC.
Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are the current EAC partner countries.
The countries join the bloc after meeting certain criteria outlined in the Treaty Establishing the East African Community in 1999.
Respect for universal principles of good governance, democracy, the rule of law, human rights, and other civil liberties are among them.
The summit, which begins today, is expected to take stock of the progress of the EAC Common Market Protocol implementation and to adopt strategic measures to address lags and bottlenecks in the common market’s establishment.
They are also expected to agree on a roadmap for the full realization of the common market, as well as identify key areas where development partners can contribute to its realization.
Burundi’s President Évariste Ndayishimiye will succeed Kenya’s Uhuru Kenyatta as chairman of the bloc.
