E. Africa’s dilemma over South Sudan

Arusha. Having adequately addressed the alleged extravagant expenditure which nearly brought it to its knees recently, the East African Community (EAC) began the new year with a dilemma on what to do with its new member; South Sudan.

The world’s newest nation was admitted into the bloc last year but is yet to be fully embraced in the EAC activities one of the reasons being sporadic violence pitting the government troops and rebels led by the former vice president Riek Machar.

The fighting and the general instability there continue to cause worries among the bureaucrats at the Arusha-based secretariat such that they don’t know for sure when the warring parties there would settle down and take their countries to a new path for peace.

Officials of the regional organization have often said full incorporation of South Sudan still awaited some formalities which, some hinted, may have to await a new financial year or upon receipt of updates on the security situation in a strife torn country.

However, it is known for sure that the difficulties of having South Sudan fully on board may take some time because of the fragile security.

Ambassador Liberat Mfumukeko, the EAC secretary general who is credited for the tough financial control measures instituted recently, is one of the senior officials at the EAC headquarters who would not say for sure when the new member would feature in the routine activities of the bloc.

During his first ever and only press conference he has addressed since assuming the position in April this year (2016), the no-nonsense SG simply said; “South Sudan will now be integrated into activities, programmes and projects of EAC and will commence contributing to the EAC budget”.

The statement was not enough to convince the journalists and regional observers that the war-wracked country, which got independence in July 2011, has already been mainstreamed into EAC activities having deposited the Instruments of Ratification with the secretary general in September last year.

The entry of Juba into the bloc means EAC has expanded in geographical coverage and human population. It is now serving a population of over 60 million.

An official of the EAC secretariat who spoke on condition of anonymity said Juba may be fully mainstreamed into EAC sometimes early this year (2017) when a new tenure for the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) members begin.

That would usher in election of new members by all the six partner states in the Community, including South Sudan which has not fielded its lawmakers in the current third Assembly whose tenure ends in May next year. South Sudan became a bonafide EAC member in September 2016 upon depositing its Instruments of Ratification.

But other observers feel that the problems for the new EAC member were far from being solved to be able to join fellow countries in pushing on the regional integration agenda. The situation, they would say, was still fluid to guarantee security for officials of the regional body while undertaking official duties there.

The South Sudan crisis have gone beyond the country’s borders. In fact, there are reports that the UN Security Council is considering to impose an arms embargo and sanctions on the country in order to forestall a likelihood of mass atrocities.

But the measure is likely to fail amid divisions among the regional leaders and donor countries on how to pressure the government of President Salva Kiir and his arch rival and former vice president-turned-rebel Riek Machar on how to end the three year war.

The US, backed by Britain and France, has argued that cutting off the arms flow was urgently needed following UN warnings of a risk of mass atrocities. Diplomats however said the measure fell short of the nine votes needed for adoption in the 15-member council.

Russia, China, Japan, Malaysia, Venezuela and more importantly the three African council members -- Angola, Egypt and Senegal-- have all expressed serious reservations.

A rejection of the arms embargo would be a setback for the US, which helped South Sudan gain independence in 2011 but has been unable to steer the country away from a war that erupted two years later.

At a time the UN is proposing an arms embargo, President Kiir is reported to be gunning for a national dialogue to restore peace, saying that initiative must be given a chance and in not known to oppose the return of Dr Machar home.

The world’s youngest nation, South Sudan descended into war in December 2013, following alleged coup plot by Dr. Machar against the government of President Kiir. The endless fighting that followed left tens of thousands dead and more than 3.1 million people displaced, with some fleeing to the neighbouring countries.

There are growing fears that the humanitarian crisis would worsen and it could not be explained if EAC has the capacity to deal with the situation should it be given a free hand to get fully involved in conflict resolution, South Sudan being its member country.

Currently more than six 6 million people in the country- a half of the population- are in need of urgent aid and humanitarian organisations expect this number to rise by 20 to 30 percent next year.

Some 1.3 million South Sudanese have fled across borders as refugees, including 383,000 who have fled to Uganda since July, according to UN figures.

As the conflict escalated with no sign that runaway Dr Machar would return back to the country soon and stop fighting the government in Juba, officials of the government appear confident that the situation was coming back to normal, though slowly.

“The situation in South Sudan is a bit calm and things were being sorted out internally,” Presidential Economic advisor Aggrey Tisa Sabuni said in Kampala recently during a high level meeting of permanent/principal secretaries of he six partner states in the bloc, pleading for support from fellow states in the EAC to end its internal crisis.

The Kampala meeting was the first official session of senior government representatives drawn from Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Burundi and Rwanda convened to develop a road map for the full integration of South Sudan into the Community.

The permanent secretary in Tanzania’s ministry of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation Dr Aziz Mlima hailed the Juba government’s pledge to restore peace, security and tranquility there despite recent calls of armed resistance by Dr Machar, now in exile.

“Republic of Sudan’s commitment to the integration process and internal efforts to restore peace and improve security are welcome,” he said.

Ambassador Mfumukeko said the meeting was being held pursuant of to the implementation of a directive of the recent summit of the regional leaders in Dar es Salaam in which they called for speeding up of processes to fully integration South Sudan into the bloc.

“The proposed road map will be used as the benchmark upon which RSS (Republic of South Sudan) projects, programmes, institutional inclusion, responsibilities and obligations to the EAC will be monitored,” he said.

The SG revealed that the integration of the RSS into the Community will be done in phases, saying: “Aware of capacity requirements, the implementation shall be phased-in and progressive to allow for South Sudan to build relevant capacity and strengthen its institutions.”

He disclosed that in the course of the negotiations for the admission of RSS into the Community, it was agreed that South Sudan will have 3 years after accession to prepare for implementation of the Customs Union and Common Market Protocols.

“After the three-year period, RSS will still be allowed to request for additional time in line with EAC laws if it finds itself unable to comply with certain requirements.”

He also disclosed that following the linear integration model, the initial focus will be on the Customs Union Protocol (implementation of the Common External Tariff and Single Customs Territory) and key provisions of the Common Market Protocol such as freedom of movement of capital, services, goods, persons and labour.