Somalia has become the 8th member of the East African Community (EAC) after it was formally admitted on November 24 2023.
Somalia’s admission into the bloc was officially approved by the leaders of the East African Community during the 23rd ordinary summit of heads of state held in Arusha, Tanzania, coming after nearly a year of successful negotiations.
According to local reports, Burundi President, Evariste Ndayishimiye, announced that the heads of state agreed to admit Somalia during a closed-door meeting that lasted over five hours.
Somalia submitted an application to become a member of the East African Community (EAC) in 2012 but a verification mission was only initiated 11 years later by the EAC on January 25, 2023 to evaluate Somalia’s preparedness for membership.
Nonetheless, the verification team’s findings were endorsed by the Heads of State of the East African Community (EAC) in Bujumbura on June 6, 2023. This paved the way for the Council of Ministers and the EAC Secretariat to initiate negotiations with Mogadishu regarding Somalia’s membership.
The community has been expanding recently with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the 7th member, joining the East African Community in March 2022.
The current member states of the EAC now include:
- Kenya
- Uganda
- Tanzania
- Rwanda
- Burundi
- South Sudan
- Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
- Somalia
The 8 countries are now looking to incorporate more countries in the Horn of Africa with the path now said to be open for the potential admission of its neighbors, Eritrea and Djibouti.
This move aligns with the EAC’s expansion plan, aiming to include the entire Horn of Africa, including Ethiopia and potentially Sudan. In January 2023, the EAC agreed to set up a regional bank, part of a roadmap to having a single currency in the next 4 years.
The feasibility of a regional CBDC is also being explored.
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