Somalia signs treaty to become 8th EAC member
Somalia’s president Sheikh Hassan Mohamud has signed a treaty of accession to become the eighth member of the East African Community (EAC) in Uganda, December 15.
The signing witnessed by Chairperson of the Summit of EAC Heads of State and President of South Sudan, Salva Kiir, Uganda’s President, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, EAC Secretary General, Peter Mutuku Mathuki signifies Somalia’s major leap in following through the membership process, New Times reports.
Kiir emphasized that Somalia's accession is a substantial boost to the regional integration agenda, highlighting the East African Community's noteworthy achievements across its four pillars of integration.
“Somalia is joining a regional economic bloc that has recorded major achievements in all its four pillars of integration,” he said.
President Mohamud told the community, “Our mission is clear; strengthen friendship, contribute to prosperity, and actively shape a brighter future for the population of this Community. Somalia’s membership is not just timely but natural in enhancing the bloc’s trade and investment potentiality…Somalia’s strategic significance will elevate the Community’s global reverence and strategic importance.”
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Following the signing of the Treaty of Accession with the bloc, Mathuki clarified that Somalia has a six-month period to complete internal processes, including ratification of the EAC Treaty. Once ratified, Somalia will be eligible to participate in all activities and programs of the regional bloc. This includes having lawmakers in the regional Assembly, appointing a judge to the Regional Court (EACJ), and stationing a defence liaison officer permanently at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania, among other engagements.
In August, the East African Community (EAC) Secretary-General Peter Mathuki announced that Somalia had taken steps to become the eighth member of the bloc. “The EAC conducted a verification mission to assess the readiness of Somalia to join the bloc and the report was deliberated on and shared with all partner states. Negotiations for admitting it will begin on the 22nd of this month to the 5th of September,” Dr Mathuki told the press in Tanzania.
Somalia submitted its application to join the East African Community in 2012, and subsequently, a verification mission was initiated by the EAC on January 25, 2023, aimed at evaluating Somalia's readiness for accession.
