Thursday October 27, 2022
EAC Secretary-General Peter Mathuki (left) presents a copy of the Treaty for the Establishment of the EAC to Somalia President Hassan Mohamud in Mogadishu. Mr Mohamud wants the EAC secretariat to speed up the consideration of his country’s application to join the regional bloc. PHOTO | COURTESY | EAC
Mogadishu (HOL) -Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has urged the East African Community (EAC) to quicken the procedure for including his country in the regional intergovernmental organization.
President Mohamud hosted EAC Secretary General Peter Mathuki in Mogadishu on Tuesday to discuss the remaining steps required to gain entry into the EAC. Mohamud informed the EAC secretary general that Somalia was working tirelessly to address all security concerns.
Mohamud said the Somali government and people joining the EAC had been a delayed dream. He urged the EAC secretary general to hasten the admissions procedure so that Somalia could join the EAC as its eighth member.
"Somalia belongs to the EAC. There is no country among the EAC member states that are not linked by business with Somalia, and existing historical linkages include language and culture," said Mohamud.
If Somalia joined the East African Community (EAC), its citizens would have greater access to the regional market and be able to sell goods to other EAC members tax-free. The combined annual economy of the EAC is estimated at more than $300 billion US.
In addition, Somalia would be eligible for the East African passport and no longer require a visa to enter EAC nations.
The EAC is a regional intergovernmental organization of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Uganda.
President Mohamud told the EAC that Somalia's strategic position on the Horn of Africa would benefit the group significantly through trade.
Somalia formally submitted the request to join the EAC in February 2012. At the time, the EAC said it would send a delegation to Somalia to evaluate Somalia's degree of readiness, which it never did.
East African Head of State voted to reject Somalia and South Sudan’s 2012 applications to become part of the EAC.
The EAC also rejected Somalia's bid in 2016, shortly after South Sudan's membership was approved.
Since coming to office in May, President Mohamud has aggressively lobbied to gain entry into the regional organization. Somalia reapplied in July following Mohamud's attendance at the 21st Ordinary Summit of the EAC Heads of State in Arusha, Tanzania as a special guest.
In August, Mohamud appointed former Central Bank Governor Dr. Abdusalam Hadliyeh Omer as his Special Envoy to the EAC.
During a visit to Kampala in October, President Mohamud secured Ugandan President Museveni's assurances that his country would back Somalia's bid to join the seven-nation intergovernmental bloc.
The EAC was first established in 1967 but was dissolved a decade later. It was re-established in 2000 and now includes seven African Great Lake countries: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan.