Heads of state from the seven East African Community member states are converging today in Arusha, Tanzania, for the 23rd ordinary summit with Somalia’s bid to join the bloc expected to form part of the agenda.
President William Ruto is among the heads attending the meeting.
Somalia has been pushing to have it admitted into the regional bloc for close to a decade now.
The country got a glimmer of hope when a verification report was adopted by the heads of the state during the 21st Extra-Ordinary Summit in Bujumbura, Burundi, on February 4.
During the meeting, it was resolved that a report be tabled during the next (23rd) ordinary meeting where a final verdict will be issued.
“EAC heads of state deliberated and adopted the report and directed the EAC Secretariat and Council to commence negotiations with Somalia immediately and report to the next Ordinary Summit,” a communiqué signed by all the member states reads.
It was further agreed that the process be fast-tracked to on-board the country.
The report is from a mission team from the seven-nation bloc comprising DRC, Tanzania, Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan, and Uganda who travelled to Somalia early this year to assess the country.
This was after the Council of the Ministers' Summit during its 43rd ordinary session in Burundi in February endorsed it.
The team made up of senior officials reviewed Somalia’s institutional and legal frameworks, its policies, strategies, and programs and its areas of cooperation with the EAC.
They were also tasked with making findings relating to the institutional frameworks in place, legal frameworks, policies, strategies, projects and programs, areas of cooperation with other EAC Partner States and expectations from its membership.
EAC secretary general Peter Mathuki said in a past meeting in Nairobi that the entry of Somalia will massively boost the EAC’s geographical reach, boost its efforts to improve its multilateral and fiscal standing, and the exploitation of Somalia’s blue economy resources such as fish will boost the regional economy.
Last July, Somalia President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud attended the 22nd Ordinary East Africa Community Heads of State Summit where he made another bid to join EAC.
“I am here to make a formal bid for Somalia to join the East African Community,” Mohamud said.
The leader had initiated the bid during his first term between 2012 and 2017 together with DRC but members declined due to war and disorder in the Horn of Africa nation.
In its response, Somalia has termed the move as a noteworthy milestone and testament that Somalia is ready and fully equipped to join the EAC.
A week ago, Mohamud met Burundi president Evariste Ndayishimiye in Bujumbura.
Ndayishimiye is the current chairperson of the Summit.
Their talks centred on security and peacebuilding and Somalia's bid to join the East African Community.
A country can only become a member of the bloc upon meeting certain conditions set out in the 1999 Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community.
They include respect for universal principles of good governance, democracy, the rule of law, respect for human rights and other civil liberties.
For a country to be admitted, all the members must unanimously agree on the decision.
No voting is done but just a consensus.