Somalia has now officially become a full member of the East African Community after the country deposited its ratification instrument of the treaty of accession on Monday.
During the official ceremony that took place in East African Community Headquarters in Arusha Tanzania, the community’s Secretary General Dr. Peter Mathuki said that the new member state will no doubt integrate with the community easily.
“Somalia is basically an EAC state and the people of Somalia already live together with other East Africans so it will be much easier for the country to integrate,” said Dr. Mathuki.
Somalia follows the Democratic Republic of Congo which joined the bloc in April 2022.
Despite Somalia having applied to join the community back in 2012, security in the country has been a major challenge and a factor that had hindered its accession into the bloc.
The depositing of the ratification instruments by Somalia means that the country is now committed on harmonizing and ratifying the East African Community law and treaty which includes adherence to universally acceptable principles of good governance, democracy, the rule of law, observance of human rights and social justice.
A verification mission was launched by EAC on January 25th last year to assess the readiness of Somalia to join the Community. The Verification team’s report was later adopted by the EAC Heads of State Summit in Bujumbura in June 6th, 2023.
Despite the security challenges in Somalia, analysts say that transborder trade will increase significantly in the region as the community is having a market of more than 300 million people and a GDP of over $300 billion.