OIL-RICH South Sudan has requested to join the East African Community (EAC) as businesspersons from the block increasingly target booming trade in the semi-autonomous region.However EAC turned down the request saying only South Sudan was not a sovereign State as it is part of the Sudan.Uganda’s State Minister for Trade Nelson Wambuzi Gagawala told journalists of the application by the Government of South Sudan (GOSS).EAC, which brings together Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Rwanda, is among Africa’s strongest regional groupings with a combined market of 120 million people.“Southern Sudan has applied to join the EAC. In fact also Khartoum wants to join,” Gagawala said on Friday.A Ugandan senior official in charge of East Africa and Great Lakes Region affairs corroborated the minister’s position.He said: “They (GOSS) actually applied during the April 2007 summit. However, the Heads of State advised South Sudan to apply when they are a sovereign state (in case they seceded after a referendum),” Kagamba said.With a population of about 14 million people, South Sudan is seeking to secede from the Arab-north in a bid to consolidate black-Christian leadership. The secession will be decided in the forthcoming referendum.Uganda’s Minister for Regional Cooperation, Isaac Musumba, had earlier voiced a similar position to the press. “We cannot deal with them since South Sudan is not yet a sovereign state. It is still part of Sudan,” Musumba said.GOSS’s interest in EAC comes at a time when thousands of East African traders are flocking the southern Sudan market that is reported to have extensive unexploited resources.“I think they want to join the bloc because they mainly trade with East Africa. I do not think there is any other reason. You know they fetch a biggest percentage of their goods through Mombassa. Therefore they need to join the Community so that taxes are lifted,” Kagamba said.To join the EAC, a country must be a neighbour of the bloc, have a common market and have a democratically elected government.According to Musumba, South Sudan has drafted an investment policy to enrich trade with its neighbours. The investment plan is worth $32 million which they are yet to raise.A number of traders especially Kenyans and Ugandans from around the region have asserted themselves on the South Sudan market especially in petty trade.“Our greatest regional market is Southern Sudan. Our traders are sending more goods to southern Sudan, which is a food basket for the entire country. Southern Sudan has immense potential. It has a huge land mass. The land is so fertile and very beautiful. For any energetic people, it is the way to go,” Gagawala said.However, despite being an attractive market for East Africa, southern Sudan remains less accessible. Roads are in a pitiable state and there are few accommodation facilities, which are charged at exorbitant prices.But Musumba, who about two weeks ago had led a Ugandan ministerial delegation to Southern Sudan on a bilateral mission, said they had agreed with GOSS leadership on joint transport routes including a railway line that will run from Juba through northern Uganda to Mombassa.Gagawala, Uganda’s Trade Minister also said GOSS intends to erect an oil pipeline to Uganda. A few months ago the GOSS Minister for Regional Cooperation, Dr. Benjamin Barnaba Marial said that in future they would build a refinery at the border with Uganda and Kenya.Ends
