EAC: DR Congo to wait longer

Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation minister Bernard Membe (right) presents the Organisation of Africa/African Union Torch to the dean of diplomatic corps, Ambassador Juma-Alfani Mpango of DRC, to mark the organisation’s golden jubilee at the Karimjee grounds in Dar es Salaam. PHOTO | FILE

What you need to know:

  • It is not clear whether the DRC officially applied to join the regional bloc and relations between the resource-rich country and some of the community members remain frosty

Arusha. Ambassador Juma-Alfani Mpango, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) envoy to Tanzania, was full of smiles when he arrived at the East African Community (EAC) headquarters in early 2010 to present his credentials.

After handing his papers to the EAC secretary general then, Ambassador Juma Mwapachu, he said his country would enjoy observer status at the EAC.

Some analysts saw his accreditation to the regional organisation as a sign that his country would soon become an EAC member.

“It is true we are keen to join the EAC,” he said. His country had already started working on the process to integrate with the EAC economic bloc.

New era

Mr Mpango added: “My government believes that integration in the framework of the Tripartite EAC, Southern African Development Corporation (SADC) and Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) can open a new era of multi-lateral cooperation which will enable the members to have wider relations in political, economic and trade sectors.”

Nearly four years later, it is not clear whether the DRC officially applied to join the regional bloc and relations between the resource-rich country and some of the community members remain frosty.

The situation has been complicated further by the crisis in eastern Congo.

Instead of Kinshasa coming closer to the community it traditionally shared trade and cultural links with for generations, other countries are now getting ready to join the EAC or have formally applied to become members of the bloc.

Ambassador Mpango, a seasoned diplomat, must have foreseen this when he was in Arusha to express his country’s willingness to get closer to the economic bloc of five countries—Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Burundi and Rwanda.

“It is true we are keen to become an EAC member, but we will proceed step by step,” he told reporters at the Secretariat’s offices.

“Integration should be done step by step, given the long process normally involved in formalising membership of a new state.”

DRC is keen to work with the EAC to exploit its vast resources such as energy, minerals, water and wildlife.

The bloc is in a position to open up transport via the north, south and central corridors and the ports of Dar es Salaam and Mombasa.

DRC, which is a member of both SADC and Comesa, was the first African country to get diplomatic accreditation to the EAC and joined the fold after the United States, Denmark and Turkey. That arrangement took off in late 2009.

“DRC has a very close traditional, cultural and economic relationship with our region,” said Mr Mwapachu.“We believe that this historic event today will be a turning point that will trigger a new level of relationship leading to the DRC joining the EAC.”

But that dream has never materialised and does not seem to be anycloser. The fact that DRC remains a sleeping giant is not the only reason.

The second largest country in Africa has had to reckon with a bloody crisis on its eastern border with Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi, leading to diplomatic heckling between the neighbours. Its long border with Tanzania has been an escape route for refugees fleeing civil war or returning home.

Ambassador Mpango, who would have been happy to see his country edge closer to its traditional trade partners by way of  enhanced protocols, is now a common figure in crisis talks between his country and its foes on the eastern border, particularly Rwanda and Uganda.

That means DRC’s road to becoming an EAC member will take years.

The country not only has to sort out its differences with its hostile neighbours but will also have to address a myriad of issues if it is to establish stability on all fronts before it can even think of joining EAC.

But while the Kinshasa authorities are still unsure about the road to Arusha, South Sudan is on the verge of joining the EAC. Juba formally applied to join the bloc immediately after gaining independence in July 2011.

Readiness

A verification team sent by the EAC secretariat to assess the country’s readiness has been there since last year and what has been coming out of the corridors of the Community headquarters is positive.

“We are ready to join the EAC because we believe we meet the criteria set,”said Mr Aggrey Tisa Sabuni, the leader of a high level delegation from Juba that visited Arusha early this month.

The delegation comprised 10 ministers, the deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, chairpersons of various committees of the Assembly, under-secretaries and heads of various public institutions, among others.

The point of the exercise was to establish whether the Republic of South Sudan met the criteria for admission of foreign countries into the EAC, as provided under Article Three of the Treaty.

Based on recommendation of the report by the verification Committee, the EAC Heads of State Summit in November 2012 directed that the Council of Ministers negotiate the admission of South Sudan putting into consideration the provision of the EAC Treaty on the criteria of joining the EAC.

According to EAC Secretary-General Richard Sezibera, the recent visit to Arusha by a High Level Mission was one of the stages of the negotiation process, which will be split into three areas.

South Sudan has increasingly tilted closer to East Africa since the days it was an autonomous state in Sudan.

Analysts have hinted that the path to Juba joining the bloc has been clear since the last Ordinary Summit of the EAC Heads of State in Nairobi on 30 November last year directed the Council of Ministers to commence negotiations with the Juba government.

Somalia has also applied to join the EAC and the Council of Ministers has already approved verification of its application. 

But the war-torn country’s request has always been shadowed by growing concerns about insecurity, especially after the recent terror attack at Nairobi’s Westgate shopping mall, which Al Shabaab claims.

During the 31 August meeting three weeks before the raid thatmade headlines worldwide, the EAC had indicated that the Federal Republic of Somalia should extend “appropriate security” and protocol facilitation to the Verification Team while in Mogadishu and other parts of the country that has degenerated into anarchy in the past 20 years.