The Democratic Republic of Congo put in a formal request to join the East African Community (EAC), a regional grouping of six countries.
The request was made through a letter by President Félix Tshisekedi of DR Congo to his Rwandan counterpart, President Paul Kagame, who is the current Chairperson of EAC.
According to President Tshisekedi’s letter, the need for his push for his country to join the bloc was necessitated by the growing trade volume between individual member states of the EAC and DR Congo. EAC comprises of Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and South Sudan.
DR Congo shares border with four of the six member EAC states.
Speaking to The New Times, Olivier Nduhungirehe, the Minister of State for EAC affairs, said that Kigali on Tuesday, June 11, duly wrote to the EAC Secretary General asking that Kinshasa’s request be put on the agenda of the next Summit of EAC Heads of State and Government.
According to Owora Richard Othieno, Head of Corporate Communications and Public Affairs at the EAC Secretariat in Arusha, Tanzania, November 30, 2019 is the official Summit day "but if there is an urgent issue of regional importance, the Chair can call for an Extraordinary Summit any time or month.”
Nduhungirehe said: "There is a procedure that needs to be undertaken, and then visits on the ground for verification of several issues. A similar exercise is being undertaken regarding the request of Somalia.”
"I can’t tell exactly how long it will take but if the EAC Summit agrees with the request, I think that the procedure will be launched and we hope that the DRC will officially join the community as soon as possible.”
Othieno explained that when a country asks to join the bloc, the Chairperson of the Community directs their country’s Minister in charge of EAC to write to and forward the application letter to the EAC Secretariat.
"Once it is received here then the Secretariat will table it at the next Council of Ministers meeting. The Council will then form a committee to undertake a verification mission to DRC, and so on.”
The Council will consider Kinshasa’s application under Article 3 of the EAC Treaty.
And if DR Congo meets the requisite conditions then a verification mission will be formed and dispatched as was most recently done in the case of South Sudan.
Nduhungirehe said: "They must of course be willing to join the Community and adhere to the Treaty establishing the EAC and other documents and protocols that were signed especially those related to the Customs Union, the Common Market, and the protocols related to the Monetary Union and Political Federation that form the four pillars of the EAC.”
What the EAC Treaty says
Under Article 3 of the EAC Treaty, the matters to be taken into account by the Partner States in considering the application by a foreign country to become a member of, be associated with, or participate in any of the activities of the Community, include that foreign country’s: accepts the Community as set out in the Treaty; adheres to universally acceptable principles of good governance, democracy, the rule of law, observance of human rights and social justice; and potential contribution to the strengthening of integration within the bloc.
Also important are elements of the applicant having geographical proximity to and inter-dependence between it and the Partner States; establishment and maintenance of a market driven economy; and social and economic policies being compatible with those of the Community.
In 2011, East African leaders rejected an application by the Republic of Sudan to join after they found that the North African state did not meet requirements set out in the EAC Treaty.
The then EAC Secretary General told the 13th Heads of State Summit in Bujumbura, Burundi that Sudan’s application especially did not meet the criterion on geographical proximity and contiguity and could not, therefore, be considered at that point in time.
What is in it for the bloc, DR Congo?
Among others, the vast DR Congo – nearly the same size as all the current EAC partner states combined – is home to vast deposits of natural resources.
According to the World Bank, the country, with 80 million hectares of arable land and more than 1,100 minerals and precious metals, has the potential to become one of the richest countries on the continent and a driver of African growth if it can overcome political instability.
With a human population of 81.34 million (World Bank, 2017) the DR Congo is sparsely populated in relation to its area – 2.345 million square kilometers.
Joining the EAC which already boasts a population of more than 170 million people – the EAC sits on 2.5 million square kilometres of land area – would be a win-win scenario, in various ways.
Nduhungirehe said it is a big country with huge economic opportunities and it will also be a new opportunity for the EAC to make a link between two oceans – the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean.
"So it will really be important to have that economic bloc which goes from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean and it will strengthen, I guess, the trade between partner states,” he added.
Peter Mathuki, the Executive Director of the East African Business Council (EABC), said that DR Congo’s application is timely. He emphasized that they "welcomed the move and we shall move fast to engage with their private sector.”
According to him, DR Congo’s membership would "enlarge our market for our industries to thrive.”
Mathuki, a former Kenyan member of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA), said: "A stronger EAC is strategic for the region as we shall engage with the rest of the world as a stronger regional economic bloc.”
The DR Congo, he said, also benefits since it "will join an economically stable Community where they will be able to access the larger market and also have their people move freely within the region.”
Asked about the possible impact of the vast country becoming a member of the bloc, Andrew Mold, the Acting Director of the UN Economic Commission for Africa-Eastern Africa Sub-regional office, said that there are a number of potential arguments in favour and against.
One argument in favour of the DR Congo joining the EAC, he said, is that it is already an important trading partner of a number of EAC partner states, including Rwanda.
Mold said: "Membership would help consolidate that trading relationship and avoid tariffs and barriers on trade between DRC and the EAC partner states. It would also allow the development of joint-cross border projects in infrastructure, such as on Lake Kivu.
"The EAC is a very ambitious project of ‘deep integration’ – including not only the formation of a Common Market, but Monetary Union and eventual Political Federation. Some members may question whether DRC’s membership will delay further the attainment of those goals.”
According to Mold, an alternative to full membership of the EAC would be the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which would also go a long way in helping integrate the economies of the EAC with neighbouring DR Congo.
editor@newtimesrwanda.com