why east africans need to maintain their unity
What you need to know:
- The EAC secretariat considers the issue a bilateral matter. However, the political squabbles could degenerate into unnecessary tensions and mistrust amongst people who should view each other as one.
The current tension between Tanzania and Rwanda is unfortunate. It is bad for the East African Community integration spirit which the two countries -- along with Kenya, Uganda and Burundi -- have tirelessly worked for over the years.
Definitely, escalating the situation cannot be in the best interest of Tanzanians and Rwandans. Undoubtedly, citizens of both nations have great expectations from on-going EAC Monetary Union talks. Pursuing integration, needless to say, is more important than indulging in anything that breaks up a people, more so in this era of globalisation.
It is unfortunate that what President Jakaya Kikwete considered an honest, well-meant advice -- suggesting that the Kigali administration comes to a roundtable with rebels fighting it from bases in the DR Congo -- could result in a war of words between two friendly nations. The EAC secretariat considers the issue a bilateral matter. However, the political squabbles could degenerate into unnecessary tensions and mistrust amongst people who should view each other as one.
In such atmosphere, Tanzanians and Rwandans might be mutually suspicious over what the other brings to the table during the EAC Monetary Union and Political Federation talks, thereby derailing the integration process.
A review of what led to the collapse of the former EAC -- that brought together Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda -- in 1977 should remind East Africans why they have every reason to worry when squabbles such as this one rears its ugly head.
Analysts pointed to a number of reasons including a lack of steering functions and the unequal distribution of benefits. Then there was the irreconcilable differences of opinion between the then leading players, especially between the Ugandan dictator Idi Amin and Tanzania’s Mwalimu Julius Nyerere. Left unchecked, and when leaders’ resort to insults and inflammatory statements and when otherwise mundane differences are blown out of proportion, we put the cherished EAC integration process in jeopardy. The good people of East Africans do not want that!
