Somalia gains full membership of East African Community

Somalia has gained full membership of the East African Community (EAC).

At a brief ceremony held Monday (Mar. 04) at the EAC headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania, Somalia’s Minister of Commerce and Industry,Jibril Abdirashid Haji, presented the instrument of ratification to the bloc's Secretary-General, completing the admission process.

EAC Secretariat head Peter Mathuki said that the move will enable Somalia to kick off the process of joining EAC’s areas of cooperation.

The areas include trade, investment, industrial development and free movement of people, labour and services, he added.

“Somalia now has the green light to contribute to the development of a roadmap for her integration into the EAC.

The roadmap will detail how Somalia will implement the EAC’s four pillars -- the Customs Union, Common Market, Monetary Union and Political Federation.

Somalia first applied to join in 2012.

It is now the eighth member of the bloc which includes the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya.

Somalia is expected to designate a ministry and appoint a minister to coordinate EAC matters as required by the Treaty.

It should also elect nine members of Parliament to the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) and appoint a judge to sit in the First Instance Division of the East African Court of Justice (EACJ).