Why East African Community needs to reject Somalia’s membership application

By The Star Editorial Board

The East African Community has made major political, economic and security strides since its founding countries re-established the bloc in 2000.

The bloc that began with Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania is now a strong seven-nation organization with a population of about 300 million people and a combined Gross Domestic Product of US$ 305.3 billion.

Encouraged by those tremendous achievements, the bloc has recently embarked on a new drive to try to expand its benefit to other countries in the Horn of Africa, especially Ethiopia, Sudan and Somalia, whose membership application is now at an advanced stage.

On Aug. 22, talks between Somali officials and EAC experts on the Horn of Africa nation’s application, opened in Nairobi, and rumors are that Somalia — barring any last-minute change of heart by either side — could become a full member as early as December.

We urge caution.

Admitting Somalia to the East African Community in its current state is starkly counterintuitive, full of danger and could lead to later regrets and hand-wringing.

The whole process, which was gratuitously and injudiciously — some say unprocedurally and corruptly — fast-tracked is bad for both Somalia and EAC.

For Somalis, the EAC membership would mean the dilution or erasure of everything Somali: Language, culture, religion, history, identity, land, sea, sky and people.

The application is itself a controversial issue inside Somalia. Some prominent politicians, academics, clan elders and businesspeople, especially those based in Mogadishu, have expressed their objection to the EAC membership at this juncture, when their country is politically unstable, suffers from insecurity and lacks the skilled work force or functioning industries that could help it compete with peaceful countries.

Many Somalis have genuine concerns that their country could be turned into a dumping ground for the goods of other countries. They also question the real aim behind EAC’s decision to bend its membership conditions to accommodate President Hassan’s request.

Somalia barely has functioning institutions, robust economy or capable government to deserve preferential treatment. The writ of what passes off as a government doesn’t reach across the country. There are six clan-based entities in the country that are at each other’s throats. The rule of law, a requirement that new members must meet before being admitted to EAC, is almost nonexistent.

Terrorists control the bulk of the countryside in the southern part of Somalia. The Mogadishu-based national government is so nominal that it can’t even fully pacify the capital, where terrorists kill civilians, security agents and government officials on a daily basis with wanton abandon.

The bloc can’t blithely ignore Somalia’s security and political realities and fling its door open to a fragmented country that practically has no single central power to do business with.

For EAC, admitting a new burdensome nation is like courting new problems of epic proportions.

The bloc is still reeling from its recent impetuous decisions of taking in South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, both of whom are quasi-failed states that have no full control over their territories.

In the DRC, for example, more than 100 militia groups operate in the country, while in South Sudan armed criminals and militia groups kill people, loot property and rape women without consequences.

Like South Sudan and the DRC, Somalia, which could find hard to pay its annual contribution, would be a liability to the bloc. Only a functioning Somalia can be a beneficial member of the East Africa Community. Present-day Somalia is an ailing nation that needs salvation and sympathy, not a stiff competition.

True, a stable Somalia would have been a boon to the region and to the rest of the world. The country has the longest coastline in Africa mainland, is endowed with huge, untapped natural resources and its people are well-respected entrepreneurs who have excelled in business in many parts of the world.

The EAC’s heads of state – who’re expected to meet this coming November — should seriously weigh the ramifications and risks of admitting Somalia to the bloc. Al Shabab terrorists can take advantage of the free movement rights under EAC’s customs union and easily transfer their menace and radicalization to member states.

It’s good to be ambitious, but the East African Community doesn’t need to pile up more problems. EAC member states should first aspire to create a strong and ideologically aligned bloc before thinking of inviting more countries. It’s easy to be stirred by a desire to create a regional behemoth, but it’s wiser to be realistic and first put EAC’s house in order.

The bloc’s current formation, whose members regularly bicker over minor trade, security and political issues, hardly inspires confidence. The member states’ disagreements on critical policy issues, such as the push for single currency and political federation, lay bare the bloc’s fragile foundation. Bringing a new volatile nation to the fold will only help weaken EAC’s effectiveness.

The right response to the membership application by Somalia’s unpopular president is to reject it or at least put it on hold at this point. The request, which in the first place came from a ceremonial president who usurped the power of Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre, must be treated with the contempt it deserves.

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud committed a major blunder when he last year individually decided to present Somalia’s request to EAC without any consultation with the Somali public or their institutions.

We call on the East African Community to stay far away from Somalia’s problems. If it doesn’t, it would rue the day it admitted Somalia to the bloc.

Somalis will vehemently resist the shameful attempts to undermine their country’s existence. The proud and true blue people shall not ever accept their identity to be adulterated, their country to be exploited or their sovereignty to ever be subsumed under EAC’s federation.

EAC leaders, don’t be fooled. Keep Somalia out of your bloc. It is in the best interests of both parties.