The East African Community (EAC) has been urged by the president of Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, to expedite the process for accepting his nation into the regional intergovernmental body.
Tuesday in Mogadishu, President Mohamud met with EAC Secretary General Peter Mathuki to go over the steps still needed to join the EAC. Mohamud informed the secretary general of the EAC that Somalia was making every effort to allay any security worries.
The Somali government and people joining the EAC, according to Mohamud, had been a long-awaited dream. In order for Somalia to become the eighth member of the EAC, he pleaded with the EAC secretary general to expedite the admissions process.
“Somalia is a member of the EAC. No EAC member state is unconnected to Somalia commercially, and linguistic and cultural ties have existed throughout history “Mohamud stated.
Somalia’s citizens would have better access to the regional market and be able to sell goods to other EAC members tax-free if Somalia joined the East African Community (EAC). Over $300 billion US is thought to be the EAC’s total annual economy.
As well as becoming eligible for the East African passport, Somalia would no longer need a visa to enter EAC countries.
Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Uganda make up the region’s intergovernmental EAC.
According to President Mohamud, the EAC would gain significantly from trade thanks to Somalia’s strategic location on the Horn of Africa.
In February 2012, Somalia formally submitted its application to join the EAC. The EAC promised to send a delegation to Somalia at the time to assess the country’s level of preparedness, but it never did.
The 2012 applications from Somalia and South Sudan to join the EAC were rejected by the East African Head of State.
The EAC also turned down Somalia’s application in 2016, not long after South Sudan’s admission.
President Mohamud has actively lobbied to join the regional organisation ever since taking office in May. Following Mohamud’s participation as a special guest at the 21st Ordinary Summit of the EAC Heads of State in Arusha, Tanzania, Somalia reapplied in July.
Mohamud appointed Dr. Abdusalam Hadliyeh Omer, a former governor of the Central Bank, as his special representative to the EAC in August.
President Mohamud obtained guarantees from Ugandan President Museveni that his nation would support Somalia’s application to join the seven-nation intergovernmental bloc during a trip to Kampala in October.
The EAC was created in 1967 but disbanded ten years later. Seven nations of the African Great Lakes now belong to it, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and South Sudan. It was revived in 2000.