By The Star Staff Writer
NAIROBI, Kenya – Somali officials are holding talks in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, with experts from the East African Community on President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s request to add the country to the regional bloc, a move that could be finalized before the end of the year.
The push for the EAC membership, led by the weak, Mogadishu-based national government without consultation with regional administrations or input from the public, have no wide support among the Somali citizens, who see the application as an ill-advised endeavor by a government whose writ barely extends beyond its well-protected offices.
Some influential Somalis, including politicians, academics and businesspeople, have come out strongly against Somalia’s membership of EAC, whose member states share little with Somalia, a Muslim country with its own distinctive language, religion and culture.
The talks, which started on Aug. 22 and will run until Aug. 30, are expected to focus, among other things, on political, economic, legal and trade affairs as well as institutional and infrastructure issues.
On May 31, the bloc’s heads of state “directed the EA Secretariat and the Council to commence negotiations with the Federal Republic of Somalia with immediate effect and report to the next ordinary summit of the EAC heads of state.”
“[A]dmission of Somalia will usher in a major boost for the private sector, itself a great milestone in the integration process,” Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for East African Community Rebecca Miano said on Tuesday, when the talks began.
Miano noted that troops from the bloc’s member states – Uganda, Kenya and Burundi — are already in Somalia as part of the African Union force in the country.
“The people of the rest of East Africa are eager to welcome their brothers and sisters from Somalia into the Community,” she added.
Somalia’s Minister for Planning Mohamud Abdirahman Sheikh Farah “Beenebeene,” and Abdulsalam Cumar “Hadliye,” President Hassan’s envoy for the East African Community, are part of a large delegation that is representing Somalia in the talks. Beenebeene expressed Somalia’s keen interest in joining the East African Community, a grouping of seven countries. He said there’s “political goodwill” on both sides to see the process brought to a favorable conclusion.
“Somalia has huge resources that would contribute to regional growth,” he said, listing Somalia’s youthful population, agriculture and natural resources as issues that could be beneficial to the bloc’s growth.
“Somalia’s admission will expand [the] current EAC market size, geographical coverage, diversity and inclusive/sustainable growth for all partner states as Somalia gains immeasurable gains once admitted,” Beenebeene wrote on X, formally Twitter.
Peter Mathuki, the bloc’s Secretary General, said regional member states can “tap into to increase intra-regional trade and improve the lives of East Africans.”
“The negotiations will also provide clarifications to both Teams on matters that were identified during the verification exercise,” Mathuki said, without saying what those issues were. “I am very optimistic that at the end of this exercise, we will have a clear report for presentation to the next Summit for consideration.”
Somalia’s political instability, rampant insecurity and its clear incompatibility with the bloc’s stable member states — all of them disqualifying factors — were conspicuously ignored, as they could potentially torpedo the whole rushed admission process for a country that has almost nothing that meets the East Africa Community’s membership conditions.
One of the less discussed issues is, how the country, whose proposed budget this year was less than a billion dollar, could able to raise an annual contribution of around eight million dollars. The bloc depends on the contribution of its member states for its around US$100 million budget, which is also partially funded by international donors.
It’s still unclear how Somalia’s powerful regional leaders or the wider public will react when news of the country’s official accession filters in.
Under EAC’s Common Market agreement, goods and citizens of all the seven member countries would be allowed to move freely inside Somalia. They would also have the right to freely set up businesses or resident in the country.
The bloc has four main integration targets: Customs Union, Common Market, Monetary Union and Political Federation. Member states have so far adopted Customs Union and Common Market, with discussions continuing on the remaining two pillars.
After his reelection last year, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud renewed Somalia’s EAC membership application, made in 2012 during his first term. His predecessor Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed “Farmajo” mothballed the application due to its obvious danger to the country’s future well-being.
On Jan. 25, EAC sent a verification mission to Mogadishu to assess Somalia’s readiness to join the bloc. The East African Community Heads of State adopted the team’s report in their extra-ordinary summit last June.
At the time, the leaders also directed the bloc’s Council of Ministers, the central decision-making and governing body, and EAC’s Secretariat, the executive body that ensures regulations and directives are implemented, to commence negotiations with the Federal Republic of Somalia with immediate effect and submit their report to the next meeting for the Heads of State scheduled to take place before the end of the year.
If admitted to the bloc, Somalia will be the 8th member of the bloc. Other countries are Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic Congo.