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East africa Community officials ‘excited’ by Kinshasa request

Wednesday February 13 2019
By THE CITIZEN

The East African Community (EAC) welcomes the intention of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to join the bloc, a senior official has said.

The Secretariat official said yesterday that they were awaiting an official letter from Kinshasa on the matter.

“DRC is a huge country with a great potential to strengthen the economic integration of our region,” he told The Citizen.

During his state visit to Kenya last week, the recently elected DRC president Felix Tshishekedi announced his country’s intention to apply for EAC membership. The secretariat’s official said news of DRC’s intention had in fact excited some EAC officials and affiliated institutions.

“DRC is more than a neighbour. It is a longstanding trading partner with practically all EAC states,” he said. EAC is an intergovernmental organisation composed of six countries namely; Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda and South Sudan. According to Article 3 of the EAC Treaty, any country outside these can be granted membership of the Community provided it meets certain terms.

These include economic potential to the bloc it intends to join, geographical proximity and establishment and maintenance of market-driven economy.

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Another key criteria is adherence to universally acceptable principles of good governance, democracy and the rule of law. Once the application has been submitted, the admission of a new member should be the prerogative of the heads of state summit.

Another EAC official said although DRC had expressed willingness to join the bloc, an official letter was yet to be delivered to the secretariat.

“Once it is delivered, it would be followed by verification teams to be dispatched to see if it met the requirements of new members”, he said.

DRC’s intention to join the bloc comes at a time when the application by Somalia has been pending since 2013 when it applied to join the same.

During the EAC summit held in Arusha a fortnight ago, the application of the Horn of Africa country was once again put on hold.

At the summit, the EAC attributed the delay to admit Somalia into the bloc due to failure to undertake a verification exercise.

The Council directed the EAC Council of Ministers, the policy organ of the Community, to follow up the matter and report in the next summit

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